






COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



r 







SECRET OF 

THE YEW TREE 

OR 

A CHRISTIAN IVOMAN ' 


EMILIA PARDO PAZAN 
> ) 

TRANSLATED BY 

MARY SPRINGER 



NEW YORK 

THE MERSHON COMPANY 


PUBLISHERS 




f>S92 


COPYRIGHT, 1900, 

BY 

THE MERSHON COMPANY. 


SECOND COPY, 


^ o 


INTRODUCTION. 


“ I HAVE heard it told of a great-grandmother 
of mine, of noble family (grandees, in fact), that 
she was obliged to teach herself to write, copy- 
ing the letters from a printed book, with a 
pointed stick for pen and mulberry-juice for 
ink.” The great-granddaughter who said this 
is the first woman of letters in Spain to-day ; 
indeed, she is perhaps as widely known as any 
contemporary Spanish writer, man or woman. 
Though her achievements do not yet entitle her 
to rank, as a novelist, with Galdds and Pereda, 
she has conquered a place only second to 
theirs, and with long years of work before her 
(she is not yet forty) may even come to rival 
their great fame. From the Spain that looked 
with suspicion upon a woman who could more 
than barely read and write, to the Spain that 
counts., the literary renown of Emilia Pardo 
B'^zarf among its modern glories, is a long way ; 

and the chapters recording the struggles and 
iii 


IV 


INTRODUCTION. 


successive triumphs of Spanish women in their 
efforts to get within reaching-distance of the 
tree of knowledge, will be, when they come to 
be written, among the most striking in the his- 
tory of the emancipation of woman. Seftora 
Bazan must always be a great figure in the 
record of that educational development, and 
happily we are able to trace her own progress 
pretty fully, taking advantage principally of the 
charming autobiographical sketch which she 
prefixed to her novel “ Los Pazos de Ulloa.” 

She was born in 1852, in Corufia, of a family 
which traced its descent on both sides to the 
most distinguished aihong the ancient Galician 
nobility. One of those children whose earliest 
memories are of delightful hours passed in some 
safe retreat in company with a book, she was 
fortunate in having a father with the good sense, 
rare in those days, to let her follow her bent. 
She tells us of the happy days she had when en- 
joying free swing at a library in the summer villa 
which the family rented by the sea, and later 
when allowed to browse at her will among her 
father’s books in Corufta. Plutarch and Homer 
(in translation, of course,) thrilled her young 


INTRODUCTION, 


V 


fancy, and whole chapters of Cervantes remain 
to this day photographed upon her memory, 
fixed there in those early, sensitive days. Her 
first attempt to write came at the age of eight, 
and was born of patriotic excitement. It was 
at the close of the triumphant expedition of 
O’Donnell to Morocco, and the returned soldiers 
were fairly apotheosized by their exuberant 
fellow-countrymen. The Pardo Bazans had two 
or three honest country louts among the vol- 
unteers to entertain at their house, and to the 
little Emilia the good clodhoppers embodied 
the idea of military glory as well as any Hec- 
tor or Achilles. The worthy fellows were up to 
their eyes in luck, given the best that the man- 
sion afforded, put to bed between lace-trimmed 
sheets in the best room ; but it all seemed too 
little to the enthusiastic child, and in a passion 
of adoring homage she rushed off to her room 
to write a poem in honor of the heroes! It 
could not have been long after this that she 
addressed a sonnet to a deputy of her father’s 
party, and was exalted to the seventh heaven 
by the great man’s extravagant praise of her 
performance. However, it was not as a poet 


VI 


INTRODUCTION. 


that she was to find expression for her genius ; 
and though she afterward published a volume 
of verse for which she still professes a sneaking 
fondness, she admits that she is not much more 
of a poet than can be met on every street- 
corner in Spain. 

Her education, so far as she did not get it by 
herself, was principally obtained in a fashion- 
able French boarding-school in Madrid, where 
^‘T^l^maque was served up three times a day, 
and where Emilia was given the idea that she 
had exhausted the possibilities of astronomical 
science when she had looked at an eclipse 
through a bit of smoked glass. Later she was 
turned over to the tender mercies of tutors. 
Instead of lessons on the piano, she begged 
her father to allow her to study Latin ; but 
this was quite too wild a thing to ask, even of 
him, and his refusal only gave her a lasting 
hatred for the piano. By the time she was four- 
teen, she was allowed to read pretty much 
everything, though still forbidden to look into 
the works of Hugo, Dumas, and the French 
Romanticists generally. Instead of these, an 
uncle put into her hands the novels of Fernan 


INTRODUCTION. 


vii 

Caballero — a most suggestive incident, the 
woman who worked out the beginnings of the 
modern Spanish novel, read by the girl who 
was to help carry it to its highest develop- 
ment ! However, her unformed taste thought 
nothing worthy to be called a novel unless a 
man was fired out of a cannon or flung over a 
cliff in every chapter, and her furtive reading 
of Hugo — of course, she tasted the forbidden 
waters — confirmed her in a liking which she 
was long in outgrowing. 

In 1868, just after she had first put on long 
dresses, she was married. To make short 
work with her domestic life, let it be added, 
that her husband’s name is Don Jos^ Quiroga, 
and that three children have been born to 
them. During the troublous times that came 
in with the Revolution of 1868, and throughout 
the reign of Amadeus, her family was in politi- 
cal eclipse, and with her father she traveled ex- 
tensivelyin France and southern Europe, learn- 
ing English and Italian, and from her industrious 
practice of keeping a diary acquiring the writ- 
ing habit. On her return to Spain, she found 
the German philosophical influence in the as- 


INTRODUCTION. 


€' 

viii 

Cendant, and to put herself abreast of the intel- 
lectual movement of the time, read deeply in 
philosophy and history. By this time she had 
come fully to perceive the defective nature of 
her education, and set herself rigorously to 
•correct it, for some years devoting herself to 
the severest studies. At a literary contest in 
Orense, in 1876, she carried off the first prize 
both in prose and verse, though for three years 
after that she wrote nothing except occasional 
articles for a Madrid periodical. Finally, as 
a relaxation from her strenuous historical 
studies, she began reading novels again, begin- 
ning with contemporary English, French, and 
Italian writers ; for in her provincial home, 
and in her absorption in philosophical and his- 
torical reading, she had never heard of the 
splendid development of the novel in her own 
country. At last a friend put her on the track, 
and then she read with deepening delight. 

To her it was the chance magic touch that 
finally gave her genius its full venE If a 
novel was thus a description of real life, and 
not a congeries of wild adventures, why could 
she not write one herself? That was the ques- 


INTRODUCTION. 


IX 


tion she put to herself, and the answer came ini 
the shape of her first novel, “ Pascual L6pez,’' 
published in the Revista de Espana, and after- 
ward separately. She began her biography of 
Francis de Assisi in 1880, but a temporary 
failure of health sent her off to Vichy. Of 
this journey was born her “Un Viaje de 
Novios.” Fully conscious now of the place 
and method of the realistic novel, and of the 
high value of its development in Spain, her 
course was clear. Since then her novels have 
appeared with surprising rapidity. She has all 
along kept her feet on the earth, writing of 
what she knows, and thus it happens that most 
of her scenes are laid in Galicia. As a prepara- 
tion for writing “La Tribuna,” a study of 
working women, she went to a tobacco factory 
for two months, morning and afternoon, to 
listen to the conversation and observe the 
manners of the women employed there. Her 
work has been steadily broadening, and this 
volume with its sequel, is the largest canvas 
5he has filled. 

Though now definitely and mainly a novel- 
ist, her literary activity has been highly 


X 


INTRODUCTION. 


varied. Her letters on criticism, published 
in La Epoca in 1882, evoked the widest dis- 
cussion, and her lectures on “ The Revolu- 
tionary Movement and the Novel in Russia,” 
delivered before the most brilliant literary 
circle of Madrid, have already been given 
an English dress. Articles from her pen 
are a frequent attraction in the leading 
magazines, and her vivacious series of letters 
about the Paris Exposition won much at- 
tention. As might be inferred from her 
unflagging productiveness, she is possessed 
of as much physical as mental vigor. She 
is of winning appearance and unaffected 
manners. Since the death of her father, in 
1888, she has been entitled as his sole heir 
to be called a countess ; but she does not 
use the title. “ Who would know me as 
a countess ? ” she asks. “ I shall be simply 
Pardo Bazan as long as I live.” 

Rollo Ogden. 


SECRET OF THE YEW TREE. 


CHAPTER 1. 

^ You will see by the following list the 
course of studies that the State obliged 
me to master in order to enter the School 
of Engineering : arithmetic and algebra 
as a matter of course ; geometry equally 
so ; besides, trigonometry and analytics, and, 
finally, descriptive geometry and the differen- 
tial calculus. In addition to these mathemat- 
ical studies, French, only held together 
with pins, if the truth must be told, and 
English very hurriedly basted ; and as for 
that dreadful German, I would not put 
tooth to it even in jest — the Gothic letters 
inspired me with such great respect. Then 
there was the everlasting drawing — linear, 
topographic, and landscape even, the latter 
being intended, I presume, to enable an 


2 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


engineer, while managing his theodolite and 
sights, to divert himself innocently by 
scratching down some picturesque scene in 
his album — after the manner of English 
misses on their travels. 

After entrance came the “ little course,'' 
so called, in order that we might not be 
afraid of it. It embraced only four studies — 
to wit, integral calculus, theoretical mechan- 
ics, physics, and chemistry. During the year 
of the little course,” we had no more 
drawing to do ; but in the following, which 
is the first year of the course properly 
speaking, we were obliged, besides going 
deep into materials of construction, applied 
mechanics, geology, and cubic mensuration, 
to take up new kinds of drawing — pen- 
drawing, shading and washing. 

I was not one of the most hard-working 
students, nor yet one of the most stupid — 
I say it as shouldn’t. I could grind away 
when it was necessary, and could exercise 
both patience and perseverance in those 
branches where, the power of intellect not 
being sufficient, one must have recourse ta 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


3 


a parrot-like memory. I failed to pass sev- 
eral times, but it is impossible to avoid 
such mishaps in taking a professional course 
in which they deliberately tighten the 
screws on the students, in order that only 
a limited number may graduate to fill the 
vacant posts. I was sure of success, sooner 
or later; and my mother, who paid for the 
cost of my tuition, with the assistance 
of her only brother, was as patient as 
her disposition would allow her to be with 
my failures. I assured her that they were 
not numerous and that, when I finally 
emerged a full-fledged civil engineer, I should 
have in my pocket the four hundred and fifty 
dollar salary, besides extras. 

Nor were all my failures avoidable, even if I 
had been as assiduous as possible in my 
studies. I was all run down and sick for one 
year, finally having an attack of varioloid ; 
and this reason, with others not necessary to 
enumerate, will explain why at the age of 
twenty-one I found myself still in the second 
year of the course, although I enjoyed the 
reputation of being a studious youth and 


4 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

quite well informed — that is to say, I yet 
lacked three years. 

The year before, the first year of the course 
strictly speaking, I was obliged to let some 
studies go over to the September examina- 
tions. I attribute that disagreeable occur- 
rence to the bad influence I was under, in a 
certain boarding-house, where the evil one 
tempted me to take up my abode. The time 
I passed'there left undying recollections in my 
memory, which bring a smile to my lips and 
indiscreet joy to my soul whenever I evoke 
them. I will give some idea of the place, so 
that the reader may judge whether Archi- 
medes himself would have been capable of 
studying hard in such a den. 

There are several houses in Madrid at the 
present date — for example, the Corralillos, the 
Cuartelillos, theTdcame Roque — all very simi- 
lar to the one I am about to describe. 
Within that abode dwelt the population of a 
small-sized village; it had three courts with 
balconies, on which opened the doors of the 
small rooms, — or pigeon-holes one might call 
them, — with their respective numbers on the 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 5 

lintels. There was no lack of immodest and 
quarrelsome inmates ; there were street musi- 
cians singing couplets to the accompaniment 
of a tuneless guitar ; cats in a state of high 
nervous excitement scampering from garret to 
garret, or jumping from balustrade to balus- 
trade — now impelled by amorous feelings, now 
by a brick thrown at them full force. Clothes 
and dish-cloths were hung out to dry ; ragged 
petticoats and patched underwear, all mixed 
up pell-mell. There were pots of sweet basil 
and pinks in the windows ; and in fact, every- 
thing would be found there that abounds in 
such dens in Madrid — so often described by 
novelists and shown forth by painters in their 
sketches from real life. 

The third suite on the right had been hired 
by Josefa Urrutia, a Biscayan, the ex-maid of 
the marchioness of Torres-Nobles. At first 
her business was pretty poor, and she sank 
deeper and deeper in debt. At last she got 
plenty of boarders, and when I took up my 
abode in the “ dining-room bed-room,” the 
place was in its glory ; she had not a single 
vacant apartment. All the boarders paid 


6 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


their dues honestly, if they had the money^ 
with certain exceptions, and the reason of 
these I will reveal under the seal of profound 
secrecy. 

A certain Don Julian occupied the parlor, 
which was the best room on the floor. He 
was a Valencian, jolly and gay ; a great spend- 
thrift, fond of jokes and fun, and an inveterate 
gambler. They said that he had come to 
Madrid in quest of an office, which he never 
succeeded in getting ; nevertheless the candi- 
date lived like a prince, and instead of helping 
with his board to keep up Pepa’s business, it 
was whispered about that he lived there 
gratis, and even took from time to time small 
sums from Jier, destined to go off in the dan- 
gerous coat-tails of the knave of hearts. 

However, these little private weaknesses of 
Pepa Urrutia’s would never have come to light, 
if it had not been for the green-eyed monster. 
The Biscayan was furiously jealous of a hand- 
some neighbor, who was fond of flirting with 
all the boarders opposite, as I have indubitable 
evidence. In a fit of desperation Pepa would 
sometimes shriek at the top of her lungs, and 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


7 


would call out “ swindler ; rogue ! ” adding, 
‘‘ If you had any decency, you would pay me 
at once what you have wheedled out of me, 
and what you owe me.” 

On such occasions Don Julian would stick 
his hands in his pockets, firmly shut his jaws, 
and, silent as the grave, pace up and down the 
parlor. His silence would exasperate Pepa 
still more, and sometimes she would go ofif 
into hysterics ; and after showering injurious 
epithets on the Valencian, she would rush out, 
slamming the door so as to shake the whole 
building. 

Then a stout, florid, bald-headed man, about 
fifty years old, with a nice pleasant face, would 
appear in the passage-way, and with a strongly 
marked Portuguese accent, inquire of the 
irate landlady : 

“ Pepifia, what ails you ? ” 

“ Nothing at all,” she would reply, making 
a stampede, into the kitchen, and muttering 
dreadful oaths in her Basque dialect. We 
would hear her knocking the kettles and fry- 
ing pans about, and after a little while the 
cheerful sputtering of oil would announce to 


8 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


US that anyhow potatoes and eggs were fry- 
ing, and that breakfast would soon be ready. 

The stout, bald-headed gentleman, who had 
the back parlor, was a Portuguese physician 
who had come to Madrid to bring a lawsuit 
against the Administration for some claim or 
other he had against it. He was an ardent 
admirer of Spanish popular music, like most 
Portuguese, and he would pass the whole 
blessed day in a chair, near the balcony, — 
dressed as lightly as possible in jacket and 
linen pantaloons (it was in the month of 
June, I must observe), a Scotch cap, with 
floating streamers concealing his bald pate, — 
and strumming on a guitar, to the harsh and 
discordant accompaniment of which he would 
sing the following words : 

Love me, girl of Seville, beauteous maid, spotless 
flower. 

For with the sound of my guitar my heart beats 
for thee. 

Here he would break off his song to look 
toward the window of a young washerwoman, 
ugly enough in appearance, but lively and 
'.sociable. She would stand at the window 
'laughing and making eyes at him. The Portu- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


9 


guese would sigh, and exclaim in broken Span- 
ish : bimita ! ” and then, attacking his 

guitar with renewed zest, would finish his 
song : 

Oh, what grief, if she is false — no, fatal doubt flee 
far from me. 

Ah, what joy is love when one finds a heavenly- 
soul ! 

When he was done, he would draw a straw 
cigar-case from his breast pocket, with a pack- 
age of cigarettes and some matches. Hardly 
would he have finished lighting the first one^ 
when a young man, twenty-four years old, — 
one of Pepa’s boarders also, whom I looked 
upon for a long time as the personification of 
an artist, — would burst into the room. His 
surname was Botello, but I never thought to 
inquire his Christian name. He was fine look- 
iiigj of good height, wore his hair rumpled, 
not too long, but thick and curly, and he 
looked something like a mulatto — like Alex- 
andre Dumas, with his great thick lips, mus- 
tache like Van Dyke’s, bright black eyes, and 
a fine, dark complexion. We used to tease 
him, calling him Little Dumas every hour of 
the day. 


10 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


Why had Pepa Urrutia’s boarders made up 
their minds that Botello was an artist ? Even 
now, when I think of it, I cannot understand 
why. Botello had never drawn a line, nor 
murdered a sonata, nor scrawled an article, 
nor written a poor drama, not even a sim- 
ple farce in one act ; yet we all had the 
firm conviction that Botello was a finished 
artist. 

I think that this conviction sprang from his 
careless and slovenly attire more than from 
his way of living, or his striking and genial 
countenance. In all sorts of weather, he 
would wear a close-fitting blue cloth overcoat, 
which he declared belonged to the Order of 
the Golden Fleece, because the collar and 
cuffs displayed a broad band of grease, and 
the front a lamb, figured in stains. This pre- 
cious article of apparel was such an insepar- 
able companion that he wore it in the street, 
washed and shaved in it, and even threw it 
over his bed, as a covering, while he slept. 
His trousers were frayed around the bottom, 
his boots were worn down at the heels, and 
the cracked leather allowed his stockings to 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


II 


be seen, smeared with ink so that their incau- 
tious whiteness might not appear. With all 
that, Botello’s handsome head and graceful 
form did not lose all their attractiveness even 
in such a guise ; on the contrary, his very rags, 
when seen upon his elegant figure, acquired a 
certain mysterious grace. 

Another distinctive phase of Botello’s char- 
acter, which made him resemble a Bohemian of 
the artistic type, was his happy-go-lucky dis- 
position, as well as his contempt for labor, and 
utter ignorance of the realities of life. Botello 
was the son of a judge, and the nephew of a 
nobleman’s steward. When Botello’s father 
died, he was left under his uncle’s charge, who 
lodged and fed him, and gave him an allow- 
ance of two hundred and fifty dollars, only de- 
manding that Botello should be in bed by 
twelve o’clock. He did not oblige him to 
study, nor take any pains to give him an educa- 
tion ; ♦but when he discovered that his nephew 
])assed every evening at the Bohemian caf^ or 
at some low resort, and came home at all hours 
of the night, letting himself in with a latch-key 
so as not to be heard, he made the welkin ring. 


12 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


Instead of trying to reform him, he ignomin- 
iously drove him out of his house. 

Without any occupation, with only twenty- 
one dollars a month to keep him, Botello 
wandered from boarding-house to boarding- 
house, each one worse than the last, until in 
a gaming-saloon he made the acquaintance of 
Don Julian, the lord and master of Pepa’s 
heart. Thus he came to our dwelling, drawn 
by this new bond of friendship. From that 
hour, Botello found an exemplary guardian in 
the Valencian. Don Julian took it upon him- 
self to draw the young man’s monthly allow- 
ance, and then off he would rush to the tavern 
or gaming-house to try his luck.^ If he got a 
windfall of one or two hundred dollars, he 
could give Botello his twenty-one, and even, 
occasionally, add a few more ; but if fate were 
unpropitious, Botello might take leave of his 
money forever. Ashe sorely needed funds, the 
ward would then engage in a lively tussle with 
his guardian. 

Well, now, senor mio, how shall I get along 
this month?” he would ask. Just then a 
providential apparition would present itself in 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


15 


Pepa, who would come to the rescue of her 
dear extortioner, while she screamed loudly,, 
threatening Botello : 

“ Be quiet, be quiet ! I will wait.” 

“ What of that ? ” the unfortunate youth 
would reply ; ‘‘ he has not left me even a 
dime to buy tobacco.” 

Pepa would then put her hand in her 
pocket, and, drawing out a grimy quarter,, 
would exclaim : 

“ There now, buy yourself a package o£ 
cigarettes.” 

But when Pepa’s quarters were scarce, or 
even when they were not, Botello would have 
recourse to the Portuguese. He would be in 
the latter’s room as soon as he heard him strike 
a match to light a cigarette, and half jokingly, 
half in earnest, would tease for some, until 
the best part of the package would find its 
way into the Bohemian’s pocket. As the 
Portuguese was accustomed to the ways and 
disposition of little Dumas, — who was a genu- 
ine artist, as he solemnly assured everybody 
he met, — he never took his jokes seriously, nor 
did he get offended on account of the maraud- 


14 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


ing inroads into his pockets. On the contrary, 
one would say that the musical physician’s 
heart was wonderfully drawn to Botello by his 
very pranks, even though he often carried his 
practical jokes too far. I will mention one as 
an instance. 

As the Portuguese was obliged to make calls 
and to present his letters of recommendation, 
in order to hasten the execution of his business, 
he ordered a hundred very glossy visiting-cards 
with his name, “ Miguel de los Santos Pinto,’' 
engraved in beautiful script. Botello happened 
to see them, and showed them to everybody 
in the house ; expressing his amazement that 
a Portuguese should have so few surnames. 
He wanted to add at least, “Teixeira de Vas- 
concellos Palmeirim Junior de Santarem do 
Morgado das Ameixeiras,” so that it should be 
more in character. We got that out of his 
head, but his next idea was even worse. He 
surreptitiously laid hold of the pen and India 
ink, which I used for my drawings and my 
plans, and wrote carefully under “ Miguel de 
los Santos Pinto ” this appendage, ‘‘ Corno de 
Boy ” (Ox-horn). In order not to take the 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 1 $ 

trouble of adding it to all the cards, he did 
so to twenty-five only, and hid the rest. 

The next day the Portuguese went out to 
make some calls, and left ten or twelve of the 
cards at different places. The following Sun- 
day he met an acquaintance in Arenal Street, 
who, half-choked with laughter, stopped him, 
saying, “ Why, Don Miguel, is your name really 
Corno de Boy ? Is there any such name in 
your country ? ” 

‘‘What do you mean?" said the embar- 
rassed Portuguese. “ Of course not ; my name 
is simply Santos Pinto ; nothing more." 

“ Well, just look at this card." 

“ Let me see, let me see !" murmured the 
poor man. “ It really does say so ! " he 
exclaimed in amazement, on reading the 
addition. 

* “ The engraver must have made a mistake," 
added his friend, jocosely. 

But Don Miguel did not swallow that, and 
as soon as he reached the house showed 
the card to Botello, and demanded an expla- 
nation of the sorry jest. The big scamp so 
warmly protested that he was innocent, that 


1 6 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

he succeeded in diverting Don Miguel’s sus- 
picions toward me. 

“ Don’t you see,” he said, “ Salustio has the 
very pen and ink with which that was written, 
in his room now? Don’t trust those quiet 
people. Oh, these proper fellows ! ” 

In consequence of this Macchiavellian 
scheme, the good-natured Portuguese singled 
me out for his jealous suspicion, although I 
had never meddled with him in my life. But 
I firmly believe that his blindness was volun- 
tary, because he could not have had the 
slightest doubt in regard to some other mali- 
cious pranks that Botello perpetrated. 

One day when he was playing dominoes 
with his victim, Botello managed to put a 
paper crown, with donkey’s ears, on the latter’s 
head, so that the nymph of the ironing-table 
might be convulsed with laughter, for she was 
watching the whole performance. Then, one 
day, he pinned long strips of paper upon his 
coat-tails, so that when he went out in the 
street all the street Arabs hooted at him. 
Nevertheless, the fondness of the Portuguese 
for Botello never failed. When Botella 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. ' ij 

lacked money to pay for a ball ticket, he would 
go to Don Miguel and ask for half a dollar, 
and exhaust all his eloquence in trying to per- 
suade him that he ought to go on a frolic also. 
When the Portuguese would refuse, making 
the excuse that he did not want to displease 
the*washerwoman, Botello would retort, calling 
him a booby. As the Portuguese did not 
understand that word, and appeared somewhat 
offended, Botello would make a movement as 
if to return the half-dollar. “ Take it, take it, 
if you are angry with me,” the sly youth 
would exclaim. “My personal dignity will 
not allow me to accept favors from any one 
who looks at me in that way. You are angry, 
aren’t you now ?” 

“ I can never be angry with you,” the Por- 
tuguese would reply, putting the money into 
his hand by main force ; then turning toward 
the rest of us who were witnessing this scene, 
he would say with the most kindly smile I have 
ever seen on any human countenance: “This 
rapacious rogue ! But he is a great artist.” 

Then he would go back to his place at the 
window, and strum on his guitar. 


1 8 A CHRISTIAiV WOMAN. 

The reader must acknowledge that there 
was no opportunity for applying one’s mind 
to methodical, engrossing, and difficult study 
in a house where such scenes occurred every 
moment of the day. The bursts of laugh- 
ter, alternating with frequent squabbles ; the 
racing up and down the halls ; the con- 
tinual going in and out of lazy fellows who, 
not knowing how to kill time, endeavor to 
make the studious ones lose it ; the ir- 
regularity of our meals ; the confidential 
way we had of living in each other’s rooms ; 
the being up all night, and getting out of 
bed at midday, did not greatly help a 
student to win distinction in the School 
of Engineering. On the other hand, the 
contagion of joking and mirth could not 
possibly be withstood at my age. 

Other students boarded there ; some at- 
tending the University, others the School of 
Mountain Engineering, and others the School 
of Architecture ; but none of them was a 
prodigy of learning. Perhaps I was ahead 
of them all in diligent application to my 
studies ; but as my subjects were very difficult. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


19 


it turned out that I found myself put over 
to the September examinations that year. 
Consequently I was obliged to spend my 
vacation in Madrid, and was unable to 
enjoy the cool breezes of my home in the 
province. 

That summer would have been wearisome 
indeed, and unbearable, if I had not been 
surrounded by such jolly and frolicsome 
people, and if the good-natured Portuguese 
had not afforded us such fun by submit- 
ting to the endless pranks of Botello. 

When there was no other way of killing 
an afternoon, little Dumas would snap his 
fingers and say, throwing back his perspiring 
head so as to brush away the thick black 
mane, which was suffocating him : 

“Let us play a trick on Corno de Boy. 
Who will help me catch some bugs ? ” 

“ Catch bugs ? ’’ 

“ Yes, just make a cornucopia and fill it 
with bugs to the top. The small ones will 
not do ; they must be big ones.” 

Then every one would go to his room to en- 
gage in the strange hunt. Unfortunately, it 


20 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


was not difficult. As soon as we searched 
under our beds, or our pillows, we would 
quickly collect a dozen or more fearful fellows. 
We would carry our tributes to the inventor 
of the practical joke, and he would put them 
all together. As soon as we knew that the 
Portuguese was in bed, we would take off our 
shoes, and, repressing our desire to laugh, 
would station ourselves at his door. As soon 
as Don Miguel began to snore, Botello would 
softly raise the latch, and, as the headboard 
was next the door, all that the imp of an artist 
had to do was to open the cornucopia and 
scatter the contents over the head and face of 
file sleeping man. After this was accom- 
plished, Botello would close the door very 
quietly, while we, convulsed with laughter, 
and pinching one another in sheer excitement, 
would wait for the pitched battle to begin. 
Hardly two minutes would elapse before we 
would hear the Portuguese turn over in bed. 
Then we would hear broken and unintelligible 
phrases; then strong ejaculations; then the 
scratching of a match, and his astonished ex- 
clamation, “ By Jove ! " 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


21 


We would come forward with great hypoc- 
risy, inquiring whether he was sick or whether 
anything had happened. “ By Jove ! " the 
good man would exclaim ; “ pests here, and 
pests everywhere. By Jove ! Ugh ! ” 

The next day we would advise him to 
change his room ; and he would do so, hoping 
to find some relief ; but we would repeat the 
same performance. 

So we managed to kill time during the dog- 
days, with these stupid practical jokes. .What 
most surprised me was that the Portuguese, 
who was always the butt of them, never 
thought of changing his boarding-house nor 
even gave his persecutor a drubbing. 

When I passed in my deficient subjects in 
September, I was obliged to exert all my 
energy and resolution in order to do what I 
thought the Portuguese should have done — 
that is, to change my boarding-house. The 
attraction of a gay and idle life, my pleasant 
intercourse with Botello, for whom it was im- 
possible not to feel a compassionate regard, 
similar to tenderness ; the very defects and in- 
conveniences of that abode, made me much 


r 


22 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


^ fonder of it than was expedient. But reason 
finally triumphed. “Life is a treasure too 
precious to be squandered in boyish pranks 
and stupid practical jokes,” I reflected, as I 
was packing up my effects preparatory to tak- 
ing myself off somewhere else. “ If that un- 
fortunate Botello is an idle dreamer, and has 
made up his mind to fetch up in a public hos- 
pital, I, for my part, am determined to acquire 
a profession, take life seriously, and be my 
own lord and master. The people in this 
house are poor deluded mortals, destined to 
end in nameless wretchedness. I must go 
where one can work.” 

Notwithstanding all this, my heart felt 
heavy when I took leave of them all.* Pepa’s 
tears flowed freely at losing a good boarder 
who, she declared, always paid punctually and 
never gave her the slightest trouble. My 
eyes were not filled with tears, but I felt as 
much regret as though I were parting with 
some of my dearest friends, while I embraced 
Botello, and cordially pressed the hand of the 
good Portuguese. As I walked behind the 
porter who carried my trunk, I explained my 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


25 


emotion to myself in the following words : 
‘‘ This picturesque irregularity, this predomi- 
nance of feeling and jolly good humor and 
contempt for serious life, which I observe in 
Pepa Urrutia’s house and among her board- 
ers, have a certain charm, inasmuch as they 
make up a kind of romanticism innate in our 
countrymen, — a romanticism which I also 
suffer from. That dwelling seems like a com- 
munity founded not on a basis of socialism 
but on a total lack of common sense and 
brains. I have met several persons there who 
are so very good that they are totally devoid 
of discretion or common sense. I suppose 
that I shall miss them greatly at first, for that 
very reason, and shall feel homesick ; and as 
years roll on my imagination will invest every- 
thing connected with them with a poetic 
glamor, even to the episode of the bugs. 
Nevertheless, I am worth more than what I 
am leaving behind me, because I am capable 
of tearing myself away from that place.” My 
pride consoled me, by whispering to me, that I 
was better bred and more energetic than 
Pepa’s boarders. 


CHAPTER II. 


My homesickness did not last long as I 
feared. Everybody prefers his natural ele- 
ment, and I did not find mine in the confusion 
and rollicking ways of the Bohemian boarding- 
house. 

My new abode was in Clavel Street. It 
was in a suite on the fourth floor, with plenty 
of sunshine ; the rooms there were not so 
small as those which are usually furnished for 
six shillings a day. Our landlady was also a 
native of Biscay, for half of the boarding- 
house keepers in Spain come from that prov- 
ince. But she was very unlike Pepa Urrutia. 
She was as neat as wax, and could make most 
delicious stews of codfish and tomatoes, as 
well as stewed tripe and vegetable soup, and 
other savory messes of our national cuisine, 
and she had no wastefulness apparently ; con- 
sequently all the boarders had either to settle 


24 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 25 

their bills in due time, or to leave the houseo 
In Dofia Jesusa’s abode — we called her Dofta 
because she was middle-aged — the beds were 
scrupulously clean, though hard and narrow. 
She kept the maid scrubbing and cleaning all 
the time. A caged linnet sang merrily in the 
passageway in front of the kitchen. On 
Christmas Eve she regaled us with almond 
pottage and sea-bream, and there was some 
kind of humble comfort and domestic peace to 
be enjoyed there. It is true that everything 
was scrimped and scanty ; and, as our rations 
were so meager, the five or six students of us 
who usually dined there, ordinarily left the 
table unsatisfied. I don’t wish to complain of 
the chocolate, which was pasty stuff of the 
color of a brick, nor of the leathery corn-cakes^ 
nor of our dessert of apples and pears, which 
seemed like wax counterfeits to judge by the 
way we refrained from touching them. 

. “ At least they ought to give us the dessert 
of raisins and almonds, which they give to 
criminals condemned to death,” said Luis 
Portal, a fellow from my province, who was of 
a humorous vein. 


26 ' A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

I will not say much about the maccaroni 
soup, which Luis classified as “ alphabetical ” 
or “ astronomical,” according as the paste was 
cut in the shape of letters or of stars ; I will 
not dwell on the wTetched pieces of boiled 
meat, with a bit of bacon hidden behind a pea, 
and already served out in portions; so that no 
boarder should take more than his share ; nor 
will I betray the flabbiness of the beef, nor the 
maggots we used to find in the fish. At my 
age it is seldom that one bothers himself 
much about the pleasures of the palate. Be- 
sides, on any boarder’s' birthday, or on any 
great holiday, Dofia Jesusa would regale us 
with some rural dish, upon which she had 
lavished all her skill, and we would then take 
our revenge. Dona Jesusa always celebrated 
the principal holidays, and observed them by 
having an extra dish on the table ; so these 
extraordinary occasions helped us to put up 
with her usual parsimony — after the manner of 
the pleasing alternations between want and 
plenty in our homes. 

Luis Portal was the son of a coffee-merchant 
in Orense, and as he was very ingenious as 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


27 


well as fond of good living, he conceived the 
idea that we might enjoy a cup of coffee, 
mornings and afternoons, without great cost. 
So he purchased a second-hand coffee-pot in 
the Rastro, which held enough for six cups; 
he also bought a second-hand coffee-mill, got 
some of the best coffee, and two pounds of 
brown sugar; and, when the cost was divided 
between us, we found that we had the most 
delicious coffee at a very low price. If we 
could only afford half a wineglass of cham- 
pagne or of brandy ! But we were brought 
to a stand-still there. Our means would not 
reach thus far, for brandy was ruinously expen- 
sive. Portal had a bottle in his trunk which 
he had brought from home, so we made up 
our minds to make the most of that by taking 
only one swallow at a time ; and Ave kept to 
our resolution so well that in two days we 
drank it all up. 

In fact, one could study in Dofla Jesusa’s 
house. It was quiet and orderly, and there 
were regular hours for everything. Some- 
times the landlady would fall to scolding the 
maid ; but this familiar and expected noise 


28 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


did not disturb us at all. So we all ground 
away to the best of our powers, trying not to 
have to say “ not prepared ” when the pro- 
fessors questioned us. The professor, who 
taught the principles of machinery, used to 
frighten us a little by his habit of going a-fish- 
ing, that is, asking questions out of the regular 
order. 

I have already said that I was not one 
of the most diligent in my studies, nor 
was Luis Portal, either. We both used to 
fall back on general knowledge, letting our 
wits float easily unburdened by a great 
load in the memory, because we feared the 
particular exhaustion which those arid and 
hard studies cause in weak brains, and which 
Luis called “ The mathematical topsy- 
turviness.” 

On the other hand, two lads who lived 
with us were so completely worn out that 
we were afraid that by the time they fin- 
ished their course — if they ever did finish 
it — they would be ready for a lunatic asy- 
lum. One of them, a Cuban, was gifted 
with a prodigious memory. With the aid 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 29 

of this inferior but indispensable faculty, 
which can so deftly cover the weakness of 
the intellect, he would fairly devour text- 
books, and as long as it was not necessary 
to enlarge upon a subject, nor to add a sin- 
gle word to the text, nor take one away, 
he would come off with flying colors. But 
the slightest objection, or the gentlest in- 
terruption, anything, in fact, which called for 
the exercise of mind, would crush him ; he 
would get completely addled, and could not 
give a straight answer to the simplest ques- 
tion. 

Portal used to call him the little parrot, 
and make sport of his serenity and his languid 
air ; and laughed to see him always shivering, 
even when close to the fire. When he put 
away his books, the West Indian was like a 
bird released from his cage. At such times, 
in place of the mental vigor to handle the 
heavy iron weights of science skillfully, the 
poor exile would display the riches of a 
brilliant imagination, all light and colors ; 
or to be more exact, all spangles and phos- 
phorescent gleams. The commonest phrase. 


30 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

on issuing from his lips, took on a poetic 
form ; he could make rhymes as unconsciously 
as a mocking-bird sings, and could talk in 
rhythmical and harmonious verse an hour 
at a time. 

But the sarcastic Portal used to say that 
the Cuban’s poetry had precisely the same 
artistic value as the tunes we compose and 
hum while we are lathering our faces 
preparatory to shaving, and had as much 
meaning read from the bottom up as from 
the top down. , 

“ We’ll call him the mocking-bird instead 
of parrot,” he would say every time that the 
Cuban would display for us his poetical string 
of glass-beads which usually occurred after 
he had filled himself with coffee. 

The other assiduous student came from 
Zamora ; he had a narrow forehead and an 
obtuse mind. He had neither father nor 
mother, and the cost of his education was 
met by his octogenarian and paralyzed grand- 
mother, who used to say : I don’t want to 
die until you are a man, and have finished 
your studies, and can see your future secure.” 


A CHRIS TIAiV WOMAN. 31 

It was but a slight thread which bound the 
poor old woman to this world, and the lad 
knew it ; so he displayed a silent and savage 
determination. As the Cuban studied with 
his memory, the Zamoran studied with his 
will, always kept tense. His poor mental 
endowments obliged him to work doubly. 
He neither took nights off on Saturdays nor 
had holidays on Sundays, nor any excursions 
whatever. No correspondence with a sweet- 
heart for him ; no — nothing but his books, his 
everlasting books, from morning till night ; an 
equation here and a problem there, without 
relaxing his assiduity for a single moment, 
without being absent for a single day, and 
never saying “ not prepared.” 

“ Have you ever seen such a fellow? He is 
always on the stretch/’ my friend Luis Portal 
would say ; “ why, he’ll be a civil engineer 
before we are, if he does not burst his skin. 
How thin he is, and his hands are very fever- 
ish at times. His breath is very bad ; his 
digestion must surely be out of order. No 
wonder it is, for he does not take any exercise 
nor any recreation whatever. Salustifto, it is 


32 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

^11 right to get ahead, but one must look out 
for his health ! ” 

I got along well with Luis Portal, and we 
became fast friends, although our ideas and 
aspirations were so entirely different. Portal 
used to like to show himself a sagacious,, 
practical person, or, at least, gave' indications 
that he would be when he arrived at the age 
when a person’s moral nature becomes well- 
defined and unified. 

We did not differ totally in our views ; we 
had some opinions in common. Portal, like 
me, was a champion of self-help, and despised 
restraint or tutelage. He thought that a man 
should be self-sufficient, and should take 
advantage of his earlier years, in order to 
secure freedom or comfort for his manhood. 

“ We don’t appear like Galicians,” he some- 
times used to say, “ for we are so energetic in 
everything.” 

I did not agree with him on this point, and 
bade him remember the adventurous and enter- 
prising spirit the Galicians had displayed within 
a short time past. 

“ There’s no doubt about it,” he would say. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 33 

obstinately, “ we are more like Catalans than 
Galicians, my dear fellow.” 

If we were much alike in our ideas of the 
way to order our lives, we differed greatly in 
our estimate of the principal aim of life. 

Portal used to say : 

“ Look here, sonny, I am not going to waste 
my time catching flies nor in trifling pursuits. 
I’ll try to get money so as to set the world at 
defiance. It is but a sorry joke to pass one’s 
life grubbing and in want. My father is an 
awful miser ; he will not shell out a cent, and 
as yet I know nothing at all about many fine 
things there are going. I don’t know whether 
by following my profession I shall ever suc- 
ceed in obtaining them ; I believe that politi- 
cians and tradespeople know how to make 
money better than professional r^ien. It is 
true the two things are not incompatible, and 
that Sagasta himself is a civil engineer. Any- 
way, just let them give me free swing and I 
shall know how to fix things. If I don’t get 
rich, put me down for a fool.” 

While I applauded his valiant resolution, 
yet I knew that my dreams of the future 


34 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


differed from his. By “ fine things " Portal 
meant to live well, to drink good wines, to 
smoke good cigars, and perhaps marry some 
beautiful, rich girl ; while I, without despising 
all these good things of the earth, did not long 
for any one of them in particular. I only 
desired my freedom. I foresaw that with 
that I might obtain something very noble, 
and worthy of being tasted and enjoyed ; but 
not in a material or prosaic sense ; something 
like renown, celebrity, passion, adventures, 
wealth, authority, hpme, children, travels, 
combats, even misfortune. At any rate, it 
would be life — life rich, and worthy of a 
rational being — who is not content simply to 
vegetate nor to gloat over pleasures, but 
who must run over the whole scale of 
thought, of feeling, and of action. I could not 
clearly define in what my hopes consisted, but 
I thought that it would be degrading to lower 
them to Portal’s material and sensuous level. 
Nor did I consider myself a visionary, or 
an enthusiast, or a dreamer. On the contrary, 
I knew that jf sometimes my head did lift 
itself toward the clouds, my feet still remained 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


35 


firmly planted on the earth ; and that all my 
actions were those of a man fully determined 
to make his way in the world, without being 
distracted by the siren of enthusiasm. 

If our creed for the individual had certain 
points in common, in our creed for the nation. 
Portal and I utterly disagreed. We were both 
Republicans ; but he belonged to Castelar’s 
party, was a cautious opportunist, and almost 
a monarchist by force of concessions ; while I 
was a radical, one of Pi’s followers, and firmly 
believed that we ought not to carry out a con- 
ciliatory policy in Spain, nor accommodate 
ourselves to old traditions in any respect what- 
ever ; but that, on the contrary, we ought to 
press on resolutely and uncompromisingly in 
the path of thorough and progressive change. 

“ These concessions are ruinous and fatal to 
our country,” I would say, ‘‘ and by concessions 
in this case I mean something equivalent to 
cheating. They say ‘ concessions ’ so as not to 
say capitulation or defeat. If our forefathers, 
those upright men of 1812 to 1840, had ac- 
cepted a compromise and walked softly about 
absorbed in thought, a pretty fix we should be 


36 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

in now ! It hurts to cut out a cancer, and causes 
disturbance in the system ; but the cancer is 
destroyed. I can’t understand this mania for 
compromising with the past, with absolute and 
fanatic Spain. Your illustrious Chief — for 
thus we styled Castelar — is a man of the worlds 
fond of making himself agreeable to duchesses 
and to crowned heads ; and that’s what he 
calls holding to old traditions. Empty words ! 
Fortunately, the French in 1793 did not adopt 
that method, nor did we in later times. Don’t 
talk to me. At the rate we are going, within 
a few years Spain will be crowded with con- 
vents again. It is absurd to tolerate such 
craftiness, and even protect it, as our most lib- 
eral government does now. The Jesuits have 
again spread their net, and every once in a 
while draw it in a little more. Some day they 
will catch the whole of us. Of course, when 
such big bugs as they gain their ends, they don’t 
care what comes after. ‘After me the del- 
uge,’ as that old scamp, Louis XV., used to 
say. No well-balanced mind can think that in 
order to weaken and uproot an institution like 
Monarchy, you must begin by strengthening 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


37 


and coddling it, and quietly implanting it in 
the hearts of the people. I don’t swallow that 
* concession ’ hook ; don’t let them try that 
business on me.” 

Portal would then get excited and answer 
me with equal energy : Well, you are simple, 
to say the least. Those who think as you do 
are in a fool’s paradise. With your system, we 
would have an outbreak of the Carlists in the 
twinkling of an eye, and Spain would be 
plunged in petty civil war. I don’t like to 
think, either, what would happen on the estab- 
lishment of your famous federation. Within 
two months after the establishment of the 
Galician canton, there wouldn’t be a rag left. 
All would want to command, and none to 
obey. If you begin by wounding and out- 
raging the susceptibilities of a nation, it will 
surely result in demoralization like that which 
followed the Revolution of September. Rest 
assured, Castelar has a long head. It is the 
republic that is not yet of age, not the king. 
Let the republic fall of its own weight, like a 
ripe pear.” 

Try some other dog with that bone. What 


38 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


they all want here is to be chief. Sonny^ 
there are no ideals ; all that has collapsed and 
we must bring them to life, believe me.” 

Don’t spin me great yarns about your 
ideals,” Portal would reply, getting angry. 
“ Ideals are the cause of all our troubles. There 
is no other ideal but peace, and to bring order 
into all this chaos, little by little.” 

Another subject of dispute was local govern- 
ment. I was not at all modest in my demands. 
I wanted the independence of Galicia. In 
regard to our annexation to Portugal,, we 
might discuss that later. We would see what 
was most expedient. But it would be well for 
Portugal, also, to shake off her ancient and 
fantastic monarchical yoke, and assent to the 
Iberian Federation. 

I don’t know what I’d give just to see your 
swinish ideal realized for about twenty-four 
hours,” Luis would exclaim. “ If Galicia should 
declare itself a canton, not even the evil one 
would stay there. Make up your mind to one 
thing : in Spain, the smaller the governing en- 
tities — is that the right word ? — the worse they 
are. The central government, as you call it. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


39 


makes a thousand blunders ; but the provincial 
legislature would make two thousand, the 
county justices three thousand, and the village 
authorities a million. Fortunately, to talk 
about Galician independence is as idle as 
to ask the fish and the sands what they know 
about the sea.” 

“ So you think that the provinces have no- 
right to say, like individuals, ‘ each one for 
himself.’ ” 

“ Look here, don’t say anything about their 
rights. To talk about their rights, is running 
off on a tangent. By rights and technicalities, 
I can prove to you that Isabella the Second is 
to-day the rightful Queen of Spain, and that 
her grandson is only a usurper. In rational 
politics no rights nor mummeries exist. There 
is only what is advantageous or otherwise, 
what is successful or unsuccessful. There is 
a sense of smell and of touch, and although I 
can’t explain to you in what it consists, yet it 
shows itself in the result. Radical ideas lead 
on to logical absurdities. You can’t apply 
algebra to politics. And say no more about 
independence. Our Spanish nation is an in- 


40 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


disputable reality, even if you do not believe 
it.” 

Irritated by his opposition, I would exclaim : 
^‘What a musty idea that love of country is! 
The great thinkers laugh at the idee^ of patriot- 
ism ; you can’t deny that.” 

“Tell your great thinkers to go think in a 
stable. If they suppress the springs of action, 
little by little, because humanity has always pro- 
gressed, we’ll no longer have any pretext for 
so much as living. You know that I am not at 
all sentimental, but our country is like our 
family, and there’s no need of poetry or senti- 
mentalism to make us love it and defend it 
with our lives. You think you settle every- 
thing by dragging out that about old-fashioned 
notions. Well, old-fashioned notions are in- 
evitable and necessary and proper. We live on 
them. And that old idea about our love of 
country is not the only one bred in our bones. 
There are a great many others, my dear fellow, 
which we’ll not give up for twenty centuries. 
I believe that in this country, in order to foster 
the ideas which are to replace the old-fashioned 
ones, what we must do is to be crossed with 


V 


A CHmSTIAN WOMAN'. 


41 


other races. All of us who are a bit enlight- 
ened — why, let us marry foreign wives ! ” 

Sometimes we got to quarreling over these 
profundities, and would roar at each other 
while loitering at the table or even while eat- 
ing. These disputes usually gave us the great- 
est eagerness in the play of mind on mind ; 
and even in the midst of our hottest arguments 
we felt drawn toward each other by >the con- 
viction that though our opinions were so an- 
tagonistic, we were able to understand each 
other and to spur each other on. 

We had come to be inseparable. We helped 
each other in our studies ; we used to go to 
walk together, even when Luis was going to 
promenade before the house of a certain out- 
landish sweetheart he had discovered ; we 
used' to sit at the same table in the Levante 
Caf^ ; when we had a little spare cash we would 
go together to our favorite resort — the gallery 
in the Teatro Real. All of us students at Dofia 
Jesusa’s were musical ; we were all ready to 
die for L’Africaine," and “ Les Huguenots,’* 
especially the Cuban, who had a musical craze. 
His retentive memory would store up not only 


42 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


the music but the words as well, and we used 
to amuse ourselves on getting home by making 
him sing over the whole opera. 

“Trinidad,” we would say, for that was his 
name, “ Come now, sing the love duet between 
Vasco and Selika." “Trinidad, there now, the 
poniard scene.” “ Come, Triny, sing that about 
O paradiso. Now about Copre fiioco'" “ Triny, 
sing the Protestant psalm. Now, the violins 
start in — now come the oboe's notes, when 
Marcelo appears.” The mocking-bird would 
sing all we called for, reproducing with aston- 
ishing exactness the slightest details of the in- 
strumentation, until at length fairly worn out, 
he would exclaim, beseechingly : 

“ Let me go to bed. I see you are making a 
fool of me.” 



CHAPTER III. 


One morning, or, rather, afternoon, almost 
at the end of the term, we rushed out of 
school, almost running from Turco Street to- 
Clavel Street. You must remember that from 
eight o’clock, when we took our muddy choco- 
late, until half-past one, the hour when our 
drawing-class closed, our recitations came 
along one after the other ; and we had 
nothing to sustain our strength, but now and 
then a sausage which we would surreptitiously 
purchase from the janitor, or some scrap 
which we would filch at the boarding-house 
and carry along. Smelling our lunch from 
afar, we mounted two steps at a time, and on 
entering the dining-room, I came face to face 
with my Uncle Felipe, who said to me, 
abruptly, You must lunch with me to-day at 
Fornos’s. I imagine that eatables are scarce 
here.” 

“ I should be glad to go, but I have so much 


44 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


studying to do just now," I answered, affect- 
ing reluctance. 

‘‘ Bah, you’ll not lose a year’s time if you 
don’t study to-day. Come along, for we 
must have a talk — a talk about a great 
many things,’’ he added, with an air of mys- 
tery. 

The truth is — and it would do no good to 
conceal it, because it will be made very evi- 
dent in the course of this story — that I had 
not merely no affection or respect for my 
Uncle Felipe, but not even any sort of attach- 
ment or as much as gratitude for the favors he 
was conferring upon me. Quite the contrary. 
I know it does me no credit to say so, and 
that ingratitude is the ugliest of faults ; but I 
know, also, that I am not naturally ungrateful, 
and in order to justify, or at least explain 
myself, I will sketch in silhouette my Uncle 
Felipe’s physical and moral characteristics, to 
do which I must allude to some matters that 
are of the nature of family secrets. 

My baptismal name is Salustio, my paternal 
surnames are Melendez Ramos, my maternal, 
Unceta Cardoso. That name Unceta indi- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


45 


cates plainly that my mother s father was a 
Basque, and came from Guipuzcoa, to be 
more exact ; and Cardoso — that’s where the 
mischief comes in. It seems that the Cardo- 
sos of Marin — I was born in Pontevedra, and 
my mother’s family came from the little sea- 
port of Marin — were a broken branch of the 
Portuguese trunk of Cardoso Pereira, a Jewish 
trunk, if there is such a thing. How did the 
fact come to my knowledge that my mother’s 
ancestors were Jews? Just find out if you 
can who tells these things to children. One 
day when I was nine or ten, unable to re- 
strain my curiosity any longer, I asked my 
mother : 

“ Mamma, is it true that we belong to the 
Jewish race?” 

With fire flashing from her eyes, she lifted 
her hand and cuffed my ears soundly, cry- 
ing : 

“ If you say that again. I’ll break all the 
bones in your body ! ” 

That chastisement left the impression in my 
mind that to be a Jew was a sore disgrace ; and 
two or three years later, when one of my school- 


46 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 

mates at Pontevedra threw it in my face, call- 
ing out, 

Cardoso’s a Jew, 

And a tricky one, too ! 

I seized my slate and broke it over his skull. 

I cannot be sure when I reached the religious 
crisis, or that period in which boys scrutinize 
their beliefs, sift them and finally discard them, 
feeling a pain from the loss of their faith like 
that caused by the pulling of a double-tooth. 
I do not think I ever experienced such a 
change, or felt such agonizing doubts, or such 
remorse and longing when looking upon a 
Gothic church. I was naturally skeptical and 
took up, if not with atheism, at least with 
religious indifference, as if it were something 
perfectly congenial to me. 

I had never been “ perverted ” by reading 
any particular book, nor by hearing a person 
of “ dangerous ideas ” discourse upon re- 
ligion ; nobody “ opened my eyes,” for I be- 
lieve that I came into the world with them 
wide open. As many young men cannot say 
exactly how and when they lost the innocence 
of childhood in matters relating to the sexes, 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


47 


so I cannot fix the precise time when my faith 
began to waver, for, indeed, I do not recall that 
it was ever very steadfast. I believe that I 
was born a rationalist. 

But it is singular that in spite of that, the in- 
sult, “tricky Jew,” always clung to my mind 
like a poisoned dart. My fellow-students never 
dared repeat it before me, but notwithstand- 
ing, I never could forget it for a single day. 
When I was about to graduate, quite a tall, 
shapely fellow by that time, I became ac- 
quainted with Don Wenceslao Vifial, a queer 
individual, but a good deal of a scholar, mous- 
ing around in libraries, filled with all sorts of 
strange learned trifles, and very well informed 
in regard to Galician archaeology and history. 
He used to lend me olJ books, and sometimes 
carry me off to walk in the vicinity of Ponte- 
vedra in search of beautiful views and ruined 
buildings. I used to torment him with ques- 
tions, to keep up my reputation as a studious 
youngster. 

One day I got it into my head that Vifial 
■might clear up my doubts in regard to the 
Jewish question, so I boldly said : 



<48 


A CHRISTIAN- WOMAN 


“ See here, Don Wenceslao, is it true that 
there are families living in Marin, who are of 
Jewish descent, and that the Cardoso family 
is one ? ” 

*‘Yes, indeed,” answered the bibliomaniac 
quietly, without noticing the great eagerness 
of my question. They are of Portuguese 
origin ; that is so certain that there is much 
antipathy shown them in Marin. It is said 
that they have not abjured their faith, and 
that they still keep up their Jewish rites ; that 
they change their linen on Saturdays instead 
of Sundays, and that they will not eat a bit of 
pork for love or money.” 

“And do you believe all that ? ” 

“ For my part, I think it is all tittle-tattle and 
old woman’s gossip — I mean in regard to their 
observing the Jewish rites ; but that they are 
of Jewish origin, cannot be denied. Further- 
more, if I have time, I’ll rummage through 
some old papers I know of, and we’ll disinter a 
certain Juan Manuel Cardoso Muifio, a native 
of Marin, whom the Inquisition of Santiago 
tortured and flogged, on the ground that he 
was a Judaizer. He was besides an incurable 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


49 


leper. So you see I know all about it, you 
curious fellow. I'll look up the papers.” 

“ No, no, it’s not necessary. I only wanted 
to find out — mere idle curiosity. Don’t trou- 
ble yourself about it, Don Wenceslao.” 

For a month I was sorely afraid that the 
fellow actually would look the matter up, or 
perhaps even send an absurd communicatioa 
to some wretched sheet in Pontevedra, as he 
used to do every two years, whenever he 
imagined that he had discovered some impor- 
tant and unpublished data which might serve 
as an historical key to the ancient kingdom of 
Galicia. I therefore carefully avoided recur- 
ring to the conversation about the Judaizers of 
Marin. This very precaution indicated that 
I was not quite reconciled to the drubbing 
which had been inflicted upon Juan Manuel 
Cardoso Muifio. 

Later on, when I left Pontevedra for Madrid 
to begin my studies preparatory to the School 
of Engineering, I often recalled that stigma, 
and tried to view it in a sensible light. It 
seemed to me absurd to place so much impor- 
tance upon a thing that, in our present social ^ 


50 4 CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

state, has none whatever in the light of good 
judgment and the philosophy of history. The 
Jews are, in fact, a people of noble origin, who 
have given us “ the religious conception ” — a 
conception to which, viewed either as a 
sublime product of the mind or as a lofty 
flight of the imagination, I attributed great 
importance. 

In another point of view, also, that of social 
standing, it no longer seemed right to me to 
despise Hebrews. The stigma of the Middle 
Ages has been so far obliterated that wealthy 
Jewish capitalists intermarry with the most 
aristocratic families in France, and give splen- 
did receptions and banquets at which the 
Spanish aristocracy deigns to appear. Aside 
from these outward considerations, I used to 
fix my thought on others, higher and deeper, 
and remembered that great thinker Baruch 
Spinosa, who was of Jewish race; as were also- 
Meyerbeer and Heine. 

In fact, as I assured myself again and again, 
there was not the slightest reason for feeling 
so sore at having descended from the Jews, 
,«xcept the unreason of an instinctive aversion, 

( 



A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 5r 

born of sentimental hereditary prejudice. 
There was no doubt about it ; the blood of 
the old Christians which flowed in my veins, 
shrank with horror from intermingling with 
that of the Jewish race. It is very singular, 
I thought, that the inmost part of our being 
thus resists our will and reason, and that, in 
spite of ourselves, there exists within us a 
rebellious and self-governed something, over 
which our own convictions have no control 
whatever, but which is only affected by those 
of past generations. 

And here my Uncle Felipe again appears on 
the scene. I do not know whether I remarked 
before that he was my mother’s brother, some- 
what younger than she was. He was about 
forty-two or forty-three at the time our story 
commences, and was considered “ quite good- 
looking ; ” perhaps because he was tall, well- 
formed, and somewhat stout, with thick hair 
and whiskers. But at the first glance my 
uncle showed all the unmistakable traces of a 
Jewish origin. He certainly did not look like 
the images of Christ, but resembled, rather, 
another Semitic type, that of the sensual 


52 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


Jews, such as the scribes, Pharisees and doc- 
tors of the law, as they appear in pictures and 
sculptures representing scenes in the Cruci- 
fixion. 

The first time I ever visited the Prado Mu- 
seum I was struck by the great number of faces 
resembling my Uncle Felipe’s. Above all was 
this the case in Rubens’s paintings, in those 
big, fat, florid Jews, with their hooked noses 
and gluttonous, sensual lips, hard, suspicious 
gaze, and with profiles like a bird of prey. 
Some of them, exaggerated by the Flemish 
master’s heavy strokes, were caricatures of my 
uncle, but most faithful ones. His red beard 
and curly hair made my uncle look precisely 
like the figure of one of the executioners car- 
ried in the processions of Holy Week. And 
to me it was very plain, it was my uncle’s dei- 
cide face which from childhood inspired me 
with that stolid, sullen, insuperable aversion, 
like that we feel for a reptile though it does us 
no harm. Not even my rationalistic ideas, nor 
my scientific positivism, nor the knowledge 
that I was supported and protected by that 
Fated being, could rid me of this aversion. 



A CHRISTIAN WOMAN S3. 

These are the tricks of art/' I reflected. 

For five hundred years past the painters have 
endeavored to bring together in half a dozen 
faces the expression of avarice, of gluttony, 
cruelty, selfishness, and hypocrisy, and so have 
succeeded in making the Jewish type so re- 
pugnant. Luis is right. Tradition, that bind- 
ing cement, that mold which gathers in our 
very souls, is stronger than culture or progress. 
Instead of reflecting, we feel; and not even 
that, because it is the dead who feel for us." 

Sometimes, in order not ^o acknowledge 
myself guilty of fear or childishness, I sought 
other reasons for the antipathy I felt toward 
my uncle. I make a great point of personal 
neatness, while my uncle, without being care- 
less in his dress, was not very cleanly in his 
person ; his nails were sometimes not immacu- 
late, and his teeth betrayed a, tinge of green. 
My dislike for my uncle was also stimulated by 
my seeing that he, without any desert what- 
ever, as the result of no moral or intellectual 
qualities, had yet been able to secure a 
good position. I do not mean to say that he 
was wicked or stupid, but that he was 


54 


A CHRISTIAN- WOMAN. 


one of those intermediate hybrid creatures, of 
whom we can never quite discover, whether 
they are bright or stupid, good or knavish, 
although they are strongly inclined to be the 
latter. A mushroom springing up in the cor- 
ruption of our politics, and growing rank in the 
deadly shade of electoral intrigue, he was con- 
demned by my puritanical and radical ideas, 
with all the rigid inflexibility of youth, to the 
punishment of general contempt. Although 
he was not as high in power as some of his 
fellow - bosses, his unjustifiable prosperity 
sufficed to stir all my youthful indignation 
against him. 

When my uncle was licensed to practice law, 
he owned some land and a house or two in 
Pontevedra, which he had inherited from his 
father. This property would not yield him an 
income of $1000 annually, at five per cent. 
How it happened that this meager fortune was 
more than doubled in bank stocks and four 
per cent, government bonds a few years later, 
let any one explain who understands how such 
miracles are worked ; so common nowadays 
that they no longer surprise anybody. My 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


55 


uncle did not practice his profession ; the law 
was for him, what it usually is for Spaniards in 
political life — an avocation, a passport. He 
went into politics cautiously, swimming, but 
keeping an eye on his clothes. He was elected 
provincial deputy several times, and picked 
away at his pleasure in the fig-basket of offices. 
In order not to waste his money in electoral 
campaigns, he contented himself with going to 
the Cortes only once, standing for one of those 
vacancies which occur on the eve of a general 
election, and which usually go to the benefit of 
journalists. My uncle, by the favor of Don 
Vicente Sotopena, the all-powerful “boss” of 
Galicia, carried off the prize without spending 
a single penny ; and took the oath the very 
day before the House was dissolved, leaving 
the way open to become a Governor, and later 
on — who can tell? — a Councilor of State or 
Minister of Public Instruction. Governor he 
was very quickly, sometimes as acting head of 
the province, sometimes as executive in his 
own right. 

From time to time some good thing fell 
mysteriously into his lap ; and they had a great 



56 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


deal to say in Pontevedra about the expropria- 
tion of some of my uncle s property, which the 
city council bought at a fabulous price. But 
it is neither pleasant nor profitable to recount 
these transactions. My uncle was one of the 
petty third-rate politicians who never dip into 
the dish without bringing outa‘fat slice. His 
method consisted in cutting down expenses and 
adding up profits, without despising the most 
insignificant. 

They used to say in his praise that he was 
long-headed. Now such a trait appeared 
to me only another symptom of Judaism, 
though, perhaps I was unjust in this, because 
many bosses in my part of the country, though 
of the purest Aryan extraction, are not behind 
Uncle Felipe in that respect. 

Sometimes I felt conscience - stricken on 
account of my dislike toward my nearest 
relative. I accused myself of being without 
proper feeling, because I was returning only 
hatred for favors. If my uncle were mean 
and stingy, he deserved all the more credit 
for meeting a good part of the expenses of 
my education. And I could not deny that 



A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 57 

my uncle showed a liking for me, in his own 
fashion. When he was in Madrid, he used to 
give me an occasional quarter to go to the 
theater; and two or three times during his 
stay he would invite me to breakfast or dine 
with him at Fornos’s ; and he was never strict 
with me. He used to treat me like a pleasure- 
loving young lad of not much consequence, 
questioning me about my tricks and frolics, 
about my fellow-boarders’ pranks, and about 
the girls over the waj^, who were amusing. 

Sometimes he even dropped into worse talk, 
boasting that he was an expert in all matters 
relating to licentious amours. After dinner, 
when the wine, the coffee and the liquors had 
flushed his cheeks, he would display his ex- 
pertness, treating of dubious subjects which 
sometimes nauseated me. I did not dare to 
protest, for we men are ashamed to appear 
innocent; but the truth is, my youthful palate 
refused that spicy, too-highly-seasoned dish. 
Sometimes it happened, also, that at night the 
indecent images called up by his conversation 
would assault and excite me, until I would 
freely bathe the back of my head and neck 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


\ 


58 

with cold water out of the pitcher. In winter 
as well as in summer this proceeding would 
refresh my brain and enable me to forget 
myself in my books again. 

Aversion, or rather antipathy, is as power- 
ful a motive force as love, and I was looking 
forward to the end of my studies as the close 
of a patronage which I felt to be unbearable. 
To be my own master, to earn enough money 
to live on, to pay back to my uncle what he 
had given me — that wa# my dream ; and I 
clung to its wings in order to reach the top of 
the dry hill of machinery, construction and 
topography. 

Now that I have drawn my Uncle Felipe’s 
portrait, I will add, that when we found our- 
selves in the little, dark, low room in Fornos’s, 
seated at the table where the waiter was plac- 
ing a dish of radishes, Vienna rolls, butter, 
and the rest of the lunch ; after making sev- 
eral remarks on various unimportant subjects, 
he said, clapping me on the shoulder, but 
without looking me in the face, Guess what I 
have to tell you.” 

“ How can I ? ” 


\ 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


59 


“ Well, what use is it for you to study so 
hard, if you cannot?” — said he, making an 
effort to appear jocose. 

I shrugged my shoulders, and my uncle 
added ; 


“ I am going to get married.” 


CHAPTER IV. 


It was (doubtless in order to lead up to this 
piece of news that he had ordered a caraffe of 
iced champagne, a luxury always to be en- 
joyed, and the more so that the heat was 
beginning to grow intense and the air to be 
parched in Madrid. I held the delicate glass, 
filled to the brim with that cool, golden 
liquid, and could not repress a start of surprise, 
when I heard his announcement, so that I 
dashed a little cascade of it on the table-cloth. 

My uncle avoided meeting my gaze, though 
I stared at him with my eyes wide open in 
amazement. He pretended to be picking up 
the bread crumbs, and to be fastening his nap- 
kin to his button-hole, but he was looking at 
me out of the corner of his eye. As he 
observed that I did not say a word, he went on, 
with a forced voice : “ I shall be very glad if 
you and your mother approve of my mar- 
riage.” 

\ 


6o 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 6r 

I, in the mean time, was absorbed in 
thought. Now I understand it. There is 
some mystery hidden here. His next neigh- 
bor must have lost her husband, or else they 
desire to legitimize their offspring. That’s 
the way it always works with old bachelors. 

Finally, as I thought I ought to say some- 
thing, I asked in a faltering tone : “ Does my 
mother know about it ? ” 

“Yes, I wrote to her yesterday.” 

“ I presume that you informed her of the 
name of your bride-elect ? ” 

“ Yes, it so happens that I first met her at 
Ullosa, at your mother’s, and became ac- 
quainted with her there.” 

When the ice was once broken, my uncle 
kept on chattering very fast, like one wanting 
to free his mind in a hurry. 

“ It seems impossible that you should 
not know about it,” he said. “ Last sum- 
mer your mother and she became very inti- 
mate. She is Carmifia Aldao, don’t you 
know? Carmifia Aldao of Pontevedra.” 

“ I don’t know her ; however, the name 
sounds familiar. Perhaps my mother may 

!'■ 

y 


62 


A CHRIS 7'IAN IVOMAH. 


have written to me about her. I don’t know. 
You know I had no vacation last summer.” 

“That’s true. Well, she is the young Aldao 
girl, the daughter of the owner of that fine 
property called the Tejo.” 

“Is she an only child?” I inquired, some- 
what sharply, thinking perhaps self-interest 
was the motive for the marriage. 

“ Oh, no ! she has a brother who also lives 
in Pontevedra.” 

“Well, I don’t know her,” I repeated. 
^‘But anyhow, if she is going to marry you. 
I’ll have plenty of time to become acquainted 
with her.” 

“ Of course you will, as I am going to 
take you to the wedding, my boy. As 
soon as you pass your examination, you 
must go there with me. The thing will not 
take place before Carmen’s birth-day, and 
between now and then I have yet to find 
a house, and to furnish it, — so you see! ” 

“Ah, so you are going to live in Madrid?” 

“Yes, the bride wants to do so. I’ll 
take you to the wedding, you may be sure 
of that. We shall be married at Tejo I Look 


A CHRISTIAN- WOMAN. 


63 


here, I don’t know what your mother will 
think of it. She has a temper somewhat 
peculiar. So if you write to her, tell her 
that I shall not give you the cold shoulder, 
when I get married. Until you finish your 
studies ” 

“ I believe I didn’t say anything about that,” 
I exclaimed, while for the second time the 
glass of champagne trembled in my hand. 

“Well, I do. Don’t get excited, for there 
is no cause for it. I suppose that I am mas- 
ter of my own actions, and do not hurt any- 
body by getting married.” 

“ Who talks about its hurting? ” I cried, feel- 
ing myself turn pale under a rush of sudden 
hatred which tempted me to throw myself 
upon that man. 

“ Well, if you take it in that way ” 

“ I don’t take it in any way whatever ! You 
are entirely free to do what you like ; and if 
you do anything for me, it is not because I 
have asked you for it. I’ll pay back to you the 
money you are spending on my education, if 
I live.” 

In spite of the fact that he always got very 


64 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

red, when animated by eating and drinking,, 
my uncle also turned pale. His lips were 
compressed, and his eyes gleamed with anger. 

‘'If you were not a whipper-snapper, Fd 
be tempted to answer you roughly. What is 
bred in the bone will come out in the flesh. 
You are just like your father, the most un- 
grateful and ill-behaved man in the world." 

“ Be kind enough not to mix up my father’s 
name in this matter, with which it has nothing 
whatever to do," I replied, feeling that if I 
did not exert my self-control, I was liable to 
seize the bottle and smash it over his head. 

“ I only mentioned your father to say that 
though one always tries to help you, you are 
always growling and scratching. However, I 
was not going to get married without telling 
you about it. It is easy to see that you don’t 
like it at all. Come, my boy, have patience. 
It was not a thing to consult you about 
beforehand. The bill, waiter," he added,, 
knocking his spoon against the glass. 

We had raised our voices pretty high and 
some of the loiterers at the adjoining tables 
turned their heads and looked at us. I felt 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


65 


ashamed, and frowning, though trembling 
inwardly, shook the crumbs off my coat and 
made a movement to rise. My humiliation 
had a real and immediate foundation, seeing 
my uncle put a bank-note on the plate on 
which the waiter had presented the bill. 
That note I desperately wished I could have 
taken out of my own pocket. I breathed 
more freely (boy-like) when a good deal of 
change in silver was brought back — more than 
five dollars. With the tip of his forefinger, 
my uncle pushed a couple of nickels toward the 
waiter, and getting up, took down his hat 
from the rack, saying dryly : 

“ Let’s go.” But on emerging from the 
dark restaurant into the sunshine, he immedi- 
ately controlled himself, and, with the adapta- 
bility which characterized him in his business 
relations and political schemes, extended his 
hand to me, saying, half in joke : 

When you feel better, come to see me. I 
want to show you your prospective aunt’s pho- 
tograph.” 

I returned to my boarding-house in a very 
bad humor, feeling dissatisfied with myself, 


66 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


but without knowing very well the cause of my 
mental disturbance. All the animosity I felt 
toward my uncle was not sufficient to prevent 
me from recognizing the fact that, on this oc- 
casion, I was the one who had conducted him- 
self badly. Luis agreed with me on this sub- 
ject, when, on questioning me in the even- 
ing as to the cause of my ill-humor, I told him 
what had occurred. 

“ Well, my dear fellow, you were altogether 
in the wrong, and your uncle was perfectly 
right. You must have known that he would 
get married some day.” 

“ I don’t care a rap whether he marries or 
not,” I exclaimed, hotly. “ What does it mat- 
ter to me, anyhow ? ” 

“ It matters a great deal,” replied the sen- 
sible fellow. “ It makes a great deal of differ- 
ence to any nephew when his uncle, his 
mother’s only brother, gets married. It 
matters so much to you that you are much 
worried over the match. But all that you can 
do is to make the best of it. Make conces- 
sions, you eager fellow, for that’s the way gov- 
ernment is carried on.” 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 67 

Don’t talk to me about matrimonial oppor- 
tunism ! ” 

“ There isn’t a subject with which opportun- 
ism will better square than this very marriage. 
Your uncle is going to get married? Well, 
then all you have to do is to make the best of 
the situation ; try to get into the good graces 
of your dear little aunt — all the more so as she 
is really a charming girl.” 

“ Have you seen her ? ” 

“ No, I have not seen her ; but when I was 
in Villagarcia last year, taking sea baths, I met 
some girls from Gambados who told me all 
about her. I recall it perfectly.” 

“ What did they say? ” 

Oh, girl’s talk. That she is handsome, 
and plays the piano very well ; that they were 
going to make her father a marquis, and so 
forth and so on. It seems that the girl is not 
a beggar. I understand that her father has a 
fat income.” 

“And how is it that my uncle can carry off 
such a prize, rich, beautiful, and young? He 
must have nerve ! ” 

“ Are you crazy ? What is there to despise 




68 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


in your uncle? Because he did not care to 
study much, that does not prove that he is not 
quick-witted and a great manager. He has 
almost as much political influence as Don Vi- 
cente himself, and is certain of a political 
future. Come now, don’t be stupid. Go to 
the wedding and try to ingratiate yourself 
with your dear little auntie. Don’t be glum^ 
for it will be all the worse for you if you are.’^ 

“ Well, now, you surprise me. If any one 
should hear you run on, who does not know 
me, he would think that I am deluding myself 
with false hopes in regard to inheriting my 
uncle’s money, and that I am disappointed at 
seeing it escape from my grasp.” 

‘‘That’s not the question,” argued my 
friend, resenting my words a little ; “ I don’t 
assert that you are capable of any meanness 
for the sake of a bit of cash, or of running 
after it. But what I do say is that, until you 
finish your education, you cannot get along 
without your uncle — and I fancy that you 
don’t want to be left in the lurch.” 

Before many hours passed, I began to see 
that my friend was right, and had talked com- 


A CHRISTIAN' WOMAN. 69 

mon sense. And as our own errors seem 
plainer, when we see them committed by 
other people, whom we consider inferior to 
ourselves in mental capacity and culture, I 
more clearly perceived the necessity of making 
the best of the situation, after reading a letter 
which the postman brought me the next day. 

I recognized its handwriting at once, and 
saw by its thickness that it was stuffed with 
furious complaints and outpourings, such as 
spring to the lips or flow from the pen under 
the shock of unexpected events. In order to 
be able to read it quietly, I repaired to a little 
coffee-house near by, which was entirely de-. 
serted at that hour. 

The waiter, after the regular “ what’ll it be 
brought me some beer, and left me in peace. 
I took a swallow, and while enjoying the bitter 
flavor of the fermented hops, broke the seal, 
and pored over the thin sheets written in a clear, 
small, Spanish hand-writing, with several slight 
errors in spelling, particularly in the use of 
double rs which indicated great vehemence of 
temper ; without a suspicion of punctuation, or 
division into paragraphs, or capital letters. Al- 


70 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


though it may seem strange, all these things 
lend a certain forcible iteration and rapidity of 
movement to this kind of angry, feminine let- 
ters, really doubling their effect. 

It was just what I had imagined it to be, a 
furious tirade against Uncle Felipe’s marriage, 
alternating with the narration of events, some 
of which were entirely new to me. I will copy 
a few paragraphs without adding so much as a 
period or comma, or disentangling the gram- 
mar, or suppressing the repetitions : 

“You see now Salustio how much a poor 
mother suffers without any hope but that of 
seeing you well established and being some- 
body to-morrow or next day and her greatest 
hope that your old prig of an uncle might leave 
you something whose duty it was to do so if 
he had a conscience and the worst of all is that 
he will have children and you will be left with 
your mouth wide open without what belongs 
to you for although I call it yours I am not 
talking nonsense for you must know that your 
uncle in the division of my father’s property 
for my mother did not have so much as a bed 
to die on but father left a handsome property 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 7r 

and your uncle grabbed it almost all up and 
left me almost in the street though I don’t 
know how he worked it and set the trap so that 
I only had three or four crusts while he ate up 
all the soft part of the loaf himself I know not 
how he consented to give me Ullosa that was 
a wonder for he took all the houses and lots in 
Pontevedra and afterwards fixed up a fine bar- 
gain with the city council and frightened the 
brave schemers as soon as your fathefl" died 
whom Felipe bothered dreadfully because he 
was empowered by the clergy and compromised 
him frightfully you can’t recollect about it 
for you were but a child when your father died 
who is now in heaven well at that time I said 
to him with great dignity of manner Felipe it 
is one thing to be a good sister and another to 
be obliged to beg and I have a son and no 
bread to give him so I speak freely I shall have 
the partition looked into for there was cheating 
there and in this way I cannot live for I am 
going to educate my son and he goes on to> 
reply very patronizingly don’t feel anxious I 
will not abandon you but will give your son 
the best profession to be found\don’t go to law' 

; 

I 

! 


72 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


for law suits are the ruination of a property and 
only fatten the lawyers be quiet silly creature 
for whose shall be what I have I am not going 
to carry it to the other world and as for marry- 
ing I shall not marry any sooner than the devil 
does a loose ox is hard to catch I can swear 
to you that your uncle said this and I haven’t 
changed a single word.” 

Without doubt, on reaching this point, the 
moral necessity of attending to her punctua- 
tion must have suddenly taken possession of 
my mother’s mind with great force, and in 
order not to do things by halves, she added a 
whole string of periods and two exclamation 
points side by side ! ! 

“ Oh my son any one who trusts the word 
of a man without religion or conscience and 
now he comes out with his nonsense that the 
idea of getting married came to him suddenly 
I don’t know what he saw in the Aldao girl 
she is quite plain and in delicate health and in 
sober earnest I don’t know how it will turn 
out for in her own house she has the bad ex- 
ample her father sets by being mixed up with 
her mother’s maid who has been there for 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 73 

years and two other little girls in the house who 
knows if they are daughters or nieces of the 
gadabout anyhow the girl takes up with your 
uncle so they say solely in order to get away 
from that infernal place where they abuse her 
and don’t give her enough to eat but I don’t 
know how your uncle will treat her for he 
comes of a bad race and is the very image of 
the Jews who come out in the procession of 
Holy Thursday I feel ashamed of being his 
sister for God had reason in singling him out 
for punishment mark my words for I know 
that God is very just and they want you to 
visit them on your vacation to see their beau- 
tiful place I am a silly if the Evil One didn’t 
tempt me to bring Carmen Aldao home next 
summer it will be different I’ll shine by my 
absence and we’ll see how they get on if they 
leave you out in the cold we will have the par- 
tition papers looked into and there will be an 
awful time for your uncle cannot make a fool 
of me and I am ready to go to law as long 
as I have any clothes to my back.” 

I went on reading the letter, between swal- 
lows of the beer. It affected me differently 


74 A d/RISTIAN- WOMAN. 

from what my mother had intended. My 
^uncle’s schemes to get hold of my inheritance, 
all that about the partition, instead of arous- 
ing in me justifiable indignation, soothed my 
mind. I was delighted to have reason for 
complaining of my uncle instead of being 
grateful to him, and now that I knew his 
wicked conduct, it seemed to me that the 
throbbing of my deadly hatred for him was 
diminishing. At least I no longer need feel 
conscience-stricken for hating him ; and that 
somewhat consoled me. 

I at once wrote my mother a very discreet 
letter, the very quintessence of good sense. I 
a-dvised her to restrain herself, insisting that 
it was very unlikely that my uncle who had 
helped us so far, should leave us to our own 
resources at the last, and saying how useless 
and futile litigation and lawsuits seemed to 
me. What had been done, should be left as 
it was ; for it was of no use to kick against 
the pricks. It was absurd to think that a man 
in the prime of life, strong and well-preserved, 
^should keep single in order to please us. A 
few idle words could not possibly bind him to 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


75 


remain unmarried. As for attending the wed- 
ding or not, we would discuss that matter later. 
Meanwhile, calmness and patience. 

I read the letter to Portal, who applauded it 
greatly, saying: 

“ That is the right way ; make concessions^ 
compromise, and avoid the breakers. That’s 
what I like. Follow my plan, and at least 
conform outwardly, for nobody can see what 
your inner feelings are.” 

“ Outside or inside, what in thunder does it 
matter to me that my uncle is going ta 
marry ? How you do talk ! ” I exclaimed, 
feeling hurt. Portal wagged his head, and I 
added, “ My mother asserts that my uncle’s 
betrothed is homely.” 

“ Who knows ? Perhaps she is, and it would 
be all the better if she were. Anyhow, she 
has a pretty name, Carmifia Aldao, don’t you 
like it ? ” 

“ The name — oh, well, that’s good enough.”' 

“ You should try to captivate your uncle’s 
betrothed,” resumed Portal, after a short si- 
lence. “Yes, captivate her, that’s a good idea. 
Make her love you, my boy — I mean no 

) 


I 


76 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


harm — like a brother, or a son, or however 
you wish. Anyway, try to make her like you. 
But do it slyly, skillfully ; polite ; no out- 
breaks or scandal. Your uncle is an old roos- 
ter, and she is nearer your own age. But be 
careful, youngster, for you are a bit like the 
youthful Werther. Take care, don’t let us 
have any family dramas.” 


CHAPTER V. 


I WILL pass over all the events of the end 
of the term and examinations, for all that the 
reader most interested in my future will care 
to know is that I passed that year ; I had my 
books at my tongue’s end. 

The boy from Zamora was likewise success- 
ful, but Portal and Trinito did not come off so 
well ; they had not worked hard enough. The 
Cuban bore his disappointment with his usual 
indolent composure ; but Portal tore out his 
hair, and laid the blame on the professor’s 
spite, and on the influence artfully brought to 
bear in favor of other students, the practical 
result of which had been to put all the strain 
on him. 

“ They have cut me square in two, they 
have fairly smashed me ! ” cried the unhappy 
fellow, forgetting all about that pleasant the- 
ory of his in regard to adj^isting one’s self, 
making concessions, conforming and waiting. 

77 1 . 


78 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


His calmness in the field of theory turned 
into furious impatience in actual practice. 
But he had felt so sure of success that year ! 

I left him fuming with rage, and went to 
tell my uncle the good news of my success. I 
felt greatly pleased, because it seemed to me 
that every step forward was another victory 
over my hateful protector, and was like break- 
ing one of the links of the golden chain which 
bound me. My uncle lived at the Embas- 
sador’s hotel, but the concierge told me, with 
a knowing air : “He is usually at his new 
house, at this time of day. He does not stay 
here much of the time. Don’t you know, sir? 
He has rented a house — but he does not sleep 
there yet. Where is it, do you ask ? Why, 
Claudio Coello Street, No. ” 

I took a car and got off almost at the door 
of the new dwelling, going up to the second 
floor. I did not have to ring the bell, for the 
door was wide open, and in the reception-room 
there was a man seated Turk-fashion, and sew- 
ing strips of fine matting together, with a big 
needle. 

My uncle was pacing up and down in a good- 


A CHJ^ISTIAN WOMAN. 79 

sized parlor, bare of furniture, and was agree- 
ably surprised to see me. 

“ Halloo, Paul Pry ! You here ! Come in 
and take a look at everything.” 

“ They gave me your address at the hotel, 
so I came to tell you — — ” 

“ Why, come in at once ! I want you to 
look around. What do you think of the 
house, eh ? It is very good for the price. 
But then, the street is not very central. The 
parlor is not fixed yet ; they have not brought 
the tete^h-tHe, nor the large mirror, nor the 
hangings. One loses all patience with these 
upholsterers ! The boudoir and the bed-room 
are farther along. Come in, come in ! ” 

I entered and looked abstractedly at the 
boudoir, which was the extreme of common- 
place, with its white marble mantle-piece, its 
arm-chairs upholstered in raw silk with a plush 
border of a darker shade, its tiny writing-desk, 
and its theatrical-looking toilet-table, dressed 
with imitation lace and adorned with bows of 
ribbon of the same color as the curtains. The 
narrow looking-glass over the mantle-piece did 
not have a gilt frame, but one of pt^ush like 


8o 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


that on the arm-chairs and sofa. My uncle 
wanted me to observe all this style, for he was 
like all niggardly people, when they make up 
their minds to spend anything extra, in want- 
ing people to know about it. 

“ Do you see the little mirror ? ” he said* 
That is the way they frame them now — a 
fashionable freak. And don’t think that they 
are any cheaper. Whew ! they cost three times 
as much, my dear fellow. That empty space 
there, in front of the window, is for the piano. 
My fiancee plays beautifully.” 

From the boudoir we passed into the sanctum 
sanctorum^ the nest, or bedroom, which was a 
roomy apartment with stuccoed walls. The 
wooden bridal-couch, which was very broad and 
quite low, and had a carved head-board, was 
standing in the center of the room. 

“ The two mattresses are still wanting,” 
murmured my uncle, with a complacent 
smile. “Just fancy, the upholsterer has got 
it into his head to make them of rich, costly 
satin. I told him that cotton damask was 
good enough. If I had not been careful 
to furnish the house, your prospective aunt> 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


8l 


who does not know what people are in Madrid, 
would have been swindled right and left. 
Look at those commodes ; would you believe 
that the two cost me twenty-five dollars ? People 
are so extravagant nowadays. Come now, and 
take a look at my study.” 

We went through the hall and into his study, 
already completely furnished with its large desk, 
like a cabinet officer’s, and a big book - case 
which seemed ashamed to contain nothing but 
heavy government reports and half a dozen fool- 
ish and indecent novels, paper-covered, and very 
dirty. My uncle opened the glass doors, and 
taking a handful of books by Paul de Kock, 
Amancio Peratoner, and the Chinese Da-gar-li- 
kao, gave them to me, saying, with a suggestive 
smile : “ I make you a present of them, my 

boy. Don’t get corrupted by reading them, 
do you understand? Just amuse yourself for 
a moment, and that’s all. Married men cannot 
keep such contraband goods in their homes. 
Send after them, or do you prefer to take them 
with you ? ” 

I answered, that I had no time to delve in such 
serious writinj^s, nor did they, in fact, amuse me. 

) ^ 

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82 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


From the study we proceeded to visit the 
dining-room, which was already furnished with 
sideboards and chandeliers, and then inspected 
even the humbler regions of kitchen and store- 
room. 

Back of the dining-room there was a cheer- 
ful little room, with a window overlooking 
some vacant lots. 

“ This is our spare room,'’ said my uncle ; 
“ so we shall be able to entertain a guest.” 

After thus examining the entire house, we 
went back to the study, and my uncle took 
out a cigar, and offered me another one, prais- 
ing the brand ; but, as I did not smoke, I gave 
it back, so that he might be able, in his own 
words, to pay off his debts with somebody 
else.” While he was taking the first puff, I 
told him the good news about my having 
passed my examination. His face lighted up 
with sincere joy. Two or three times I saw 
him carry his hand to his pocket, instinctively, 
while he murmured in a smothered tone, as he 
still held his cigar between his teeth : 

“ Well done, man ; well done ! So another 
year has passed, and you only h^.ve two to go- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


83 


Bravo ! At that' rate you’ll soon be building 
bridges over the Lerez. I vow, I’ll push you 
forward on the works ordered by the legisla- 
ture. One must know how to pull out the 
stops. You may understand all about prob- 
lems in algebra, and be able to fling equations 
and logarithms about ; but I know all about 
the key-board.” 

When I rose to leave, my uncle got up his 
resolution, put his hand, not into his vest 
pocket, but into his inside coat pocket, 
brought out his pocket-book without saying a 
word, and took out a greasy bank-note. 

How often have I observed that brief strug- 
gle in my uncle’s mind between his parsimony 
and the quick instinct which notified him 
when and why it was necessary, advantageous, 
or extremely agreeable to spend his money. 
I never saw him spend a cent without perceiv- 
ing that effort and inward struggle in his 
soul — the painful and longing good-by which 
he gave to his money. It was evident that 
reason rdvised him to make the expenditure, 
but always had to fight with his temperament. 
To superficial, observers, even if my uncle did 


/ 


84 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


not seem lavish, he was far from appearing 
avaricious ; but to me, who studied him 
closely, with the cruel sharp-sightedness of 
hatred, his owl’s beak revealed avarice, though 
checked, kept latent, and in that larva-form 
to which civilization reduces so many passions 
or frenzies that, in other days, when the im- 
pulses of the individual had greater power, 
used to reach a tragic development. 

My uncle was a frustrated miser ; reflection, 
the power of surrounding circumstances, as 
well as the desire for enjoyment and comfort 
which modern society fosters, all counteracted 
his disposition — for nowadays an old-fashioned 
miser would appear absurd, and nobody would 
have anything to do with him. But under the 
cover of the successful man of the present, who 
knew how to acquire riches in order to enjoy 
them, I could see the Hebrew of the Middle 
Ages, with his greedy and rapacious claws. 
Whenever my uncle let any money go, he 
would turn slightly pale, his jaw would drop, 
and his eyes would be cast down as though to 
conceal their expression. 

Well, he handed me the bank-note, saying: 


\ 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


85 


This is to enable you to attend my wedding. 
They are selling cheap excursion tickets now, 
round-trip, do you understand ? Yes, they are 
good for two months, or I don’t know how 
long, so that will be very convenient for you. 
Of course, you’ll travel second-class, for third- 
class is too uncomfortable. You can write at 
once to your mother what day you expect to 
start. The sooner the better, because you’ll 
not only get more pure country air, but you’ll 
save your board at the same time. Your 
mother is at Ullosa, and from there to' Ponte- 
vedra and Tejo is only a step. Come a few 
days before the wedding. I don’t know as I 
told you ; it will take place on the day of Our 
Lady of Carmen. There is room enough for 
everybody at Tejo. It is an old castle, which 
has been rebuilt and fixed up recently. You’ll 
not be in the way. Try to make your mother 
go also ; I am afraid*she is so queer that she’ll 
not do so.” 

It was getting late in the afternoon, and the 
man at work at the matting had finished his 
task ; so my uncle put the key in his pocket, 
and went out with me. We turned down the 

( 

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86 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


street, and got on a horse-car. When we came 
to the Puerta del Sol, instead of going toward 
the hotel, we took another car and proceeded 
toward Ancha de San Bernardo Street. 

“ Come with me,” said the Hebrew. “ As it 
IS now vacation time, a little recreation will 
not harm you. You’ll see some fine people.” 
Although I suspected what his “ fine people ” 
might be, I could not help feeling surprised 
when a very fine-looking girl opened the door 
for us. This handsome damsel had on a red 
calico wrapper, with pink flowers, low slippers, 
and wore her hair in that style of large bands 
pasted down over the ears which the women 
of the lower classes in Madrid have discarded 
at present for cork-screw curls. 

I warmly admired her raven black hair, her 
beautiful form, her cheeks, where the fresh 
color struggled to show itself through a thick 
coating of rice-powder, which she had daubed 
on hurriedly. Her velvety eyes, bold, but sweet 
by reason of their fine lashes, fastened them- 
selves upon mine, and said something to me, 
to which I immediately responded in the same 
mute language. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 87 

Behind this lovely specimen of the Madrid 
type appeared the head of a younger girl ; 
not so good-looking, thin, mocking, and combed 
and powdered like her elder sister. 

My uncle entered with the air of a lord and 
master. 

‘‘ Come here at once, all of you. I have 
brought you a young man, and you must be 
careful how you treat him.” 

Saying this, he led on over the loosened 
tiles of the passage-way to a small parlor, with- 
out any furniture excepting a sofa and two 
arm-chairs with calico coverings, an old 
mahogony shelf, several cheap and gaudy 
chromos, a little table on which stood several 
bottles of mucilage, broken plates, brushes, and 
scissors ; scattered all around, on the table, 
chairs, sofa, floor, shelf, and I believe even on 
the walls, and the ceiling, were endless rem- 
nants of silk, satin, and plush ; blue, yellow, 
green, pink, and of all the colors of the rain- 
bow, mixed up with strips of paste-board, 
circular pieces of the same, gilt and silver tin- 
sel, ribbons and galloons, chromos and paints, 
flowers, and the thousand other accessories be- 
) 

\ 

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f 

J 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


2S 

longing to the pleasing trade of covering and 
decorating boxes of sweetmeats “ for weddings 
and christenings,” — for this was the official 
occupation of those buxom girls. A woman, 
about fifty years old, shriveled, untidy, with 
very weak eyes, was busy in decorating a lilac- 
silk bag by pasting on each side a bunch of 
lilies and an angel’s face that she had cut 
from a chromo containing at least ten legions 
of angels. She saluted my uncle, saying, 
** Good afternoon,” in a dry manner, and went 
on pasting lilies and angels. Then my uncle, 
turning toward the girls who were following 
us, tapped each one under the chin in succes- 
sion, and introduced them to me as “ Sefio- 
rita Belen — Seftorita Cinta.” 

After that, drawing near to the table, he ex- 
claimed, jestingly : 

“ What a barricade ! Come, girls, clear 
things away ! I must treat my nephew.” 

The old woman then interfered, exclaiming 
harshly : 

“ That’s it ! waste the afternoon for us, so 
that when the time comes to deliver the work 
at the shop, we’ll just tell them that there was 


V 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


89 


too much chattering, isn’t that so? As for 
things to eat, there’s nothing here but a miser- 
able dish of rice and mussels.” 

My uncle’s lips contracted, as they always 
did previous to his disbursing any money, but 
that movement was only momentary, and 
drawing forth a coin from his vest pocket he 
gave it to the smaller girl, saying: 

“Cintita, just get some sherry wine, and 
biscuits, and a few oranges also.” 

This argument was convincing to the old 
woman. 

“ Gents, I’ll go into the next room to finish 
my work of sticking on these angels so as to 
leave the table free ; make yourselves at home.’^ 

They brought the wine and biscuits, and 
got some cracked, dirty glasses from the 
depths of the kitchen, and the scene became 
quite animated. Bel^n took down her guitar, 
and sang something or other in that low, 
hoarse voice, which reminds one of the cooing 
of a dove, displaying all the grace of her 
southern beauty, and showing her pretty, 
arched foot, which rested on the round of the 
chair. 


90 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


Cinta brought out a tambourine, and put it 
on her head like a hat, laughing merrily all 
the while, and amusing herself by throwing 
orange-peels at us. Then she got a little old 
India crape shawl out of a drawer, and put it 
on, while she made all sorts of contortions, 
saying that she wanted to have a regular spree. 

Then ensued bravos, sky-larking, pushing, 
racing round the room, chairs upset, and 
pieces of silk flying through the air. After- 
ward they made us strum on the guitar, and 
sing, while the girls danced. The wine flowed 
freely ; my uncle breaking the bottle against 
the edge of the marble table, for we had no 
corkscrew. As we soon dispatched the con- 
tents of that bottle, he told Cinta.to bring up 
another one. 

“ I have spent all the cash,” answered the 
girl. My uncle scowled a little, and said : 

* But I gave you four dollars.” 

Bel^n came to her rescue, exclaiming, “ Come 
how, old fellow, you must not be mean. We 
need a lot of things and they will not trust us 
at the grocery for our pretty faces. Keep 
quiet skin-flint, you stingy thing you!” 


A CHRISTJAiV WOMAN. 91 

What with scolding and joking, they got 
two dollars more out of the Hebrew, so we 
had something “ to wet our whistles.” 

My uncle’s face was flaming red, and it 
seemed as though the blood would burst from 
his veins ; if his tongue was thick, his eyes, on 
the other hand, gleamed more than ordinarily, 
and a beatific expression of material enjoy- 
ment was clearly marked upon his face. 

I also felt the effects of the wine, for as it 
was adulterated, it kept rising to my nose ; 
and this, together with the natural excitement 
of youth in the society of two girls — one a 
proud, and the other a saucy beauty ; — but 
either capable of turning the head of an 
anchorite, and much more so of a student, — 
made me beside myself. 

Nevertheless, it would not be fair to say 
that I was tipsy. I had made up my mind 
never to fall into the ignoble condition of a 
drunken man. I had often seen Botello com- 
pletely fuddled , stumbling around, or falling 
on the floor like a block, or wild and beside 
himself ; and I could never forget the shock it 
gave me, to see that handsome creature con- 

J 

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92 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


verted into a beast, talking nonsense, or bel- 
lowing like a calf. Luis Portal, the man of 
the golden mean in self-indulgence, used to 
say : 

“ In jolly company, when there is some 
advantage in it, one may get a trifle elevated, 
but never drunk. On the contrary, you should 
keep cool, and try to enjoy yourself at the 
expense of the tipsy fellows.” 

I followed this maxim, and was thus able to 
keep within bounds, not losing my head. I 
did foolish things, .but knew that I was doing 
them, and rather enjoyed it. 

The frolic was getting more obstreperous 
every moment. My uncle took out three dol- 
lars more ; Cinta went down several times, 
now to get wine, now a shrimp salad, now 
fruit and preserves. Finally, he bled again 
in order to have some coffee and liqueurs 
brought up. In short, there was got together 
at last an appetizing mixture of dinner and 
supper. The old woman must have feasted 
herself on the platter of rice ^nd mussels, all 
alone out there in the kitchen, for that com- 
monplace dish did not make its appearance. 


V 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 93- 

We did not leave that diabolical den until 
after one o’clock. The mamma lighted us 
down the narrow, crooked stairs, with a kero- 
sene lamp which gave out a ray of sickly light. 
When we reached the street, the first breath 
of fresh air aroused me as if from a dream. 
While we walked down Ancha Street, my uncle 
smacked his lips over the jolly time we had had. 

“What do you think of the girls, eh? 
There are none of that kind in our part of the 
country. Which do you like the best ? Be- 
l^n, of course. She’s just splendid. How 
lovely she is ! I presume, of course, you are 
discreet, so mum’s the word. There is no 
need of talking yonder about these fair ones 
we run across here; they are innocent creat- 
ures, and harm nobody. We must have a 
good time, my boy, for the very reason that I 
am about to become a sober, married man. 
It is well enough to go on a lark once in a 
while. And then, Bel^n and Cinta are not so 
exacting as many others ; although, if they 
could, they would make me scatter money 
like dust all day long.” 

“ Why didn’t? you give them one or two 




94 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

bank-notes at first ? It would have been bet- 
ter than to keep haggling over one dollar after 
another.” 

“ Pshaw ! Are you perchance some Rus- 
sian prince? Such creatures, if one is free- 
handed with them, get so high and mighty 
you can’t stand them. If I had shown them 
my pocket-book ! I am even sorry that I car- 
ried it with me, because in such rollickings, 
one never can tell ” 

He suddenly stopped, entirely recovered 
from the effects of the sherry, and pale and 
frightened, hastily thrust his hand into his 
pocket, crying : 

“ Why ! my pocket-book ! It is not here ! 
Daggers and knives, it isn’t, it isn’t ! Those 
thieves have stolen it. Three bills of a hun- 
dred each, at least. Thunder and Mars ! It is 
not here, I tell you. Let’s go and make them 
give it up.” 

“Search for it carefully,” I murmured, with 
difficulty concealing my annoyance and dis- 
gust. “ Search your pocket, they have not 
taken it, that’s nonsense ! I think your over- 
coat bulges out at the side, there.” 


V. 


A CHRISTIAN- WOMAN. 


95 


He took a deep breath ; the pocket-book 
was found. He felt of it joyfully, stopping 
under the light of a lamp-post to make sure 
that all the money was there. After he had 
searched the depths of his pocket-book, he re- 
covered his good humor and said : “And, 
besides, it contained my Carmen’s photograph. 
A nice fix I’d have been in, if they had stolen 
it. Belen would have been capable of digging 
out the eyes with a big pin.” 

He handed me the photograph, which was a 
small one, such a we give to those we love. I 
saw a youthful face, with a high, broad fore- 
head, the hair dressed in a simple style, a pair 
of bright eyes with a gleam of passion and 
strength of will which surprised me — for I had 
pictured my uncle’s sweetheart as mild and 
yielding, passively submitting to everything 
put upon her. Nor did I find her as plain as 
my mother had led me to expect. She had 
one of those faces, which, without being beau- 
tiful, attract your gaze the second time. 

I left my uncle at the door of his hotel, 
and went to bed not far from daybreak. 

I should neveif end if I were to tell how Por- 


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96 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


tal teased me the next day. He smelled of my 
clothes, and then smacked his lips, exclaiming : 

“Aha! You’re a sly bird, you rogue f 
Odor di femina / ” Suddenly he burst out 
laughing : 

“ Ho, ho ! What’s all this ! ” 

On the left leg of my trousers were stuck two 
little heads of angels, a rose, a bunch of lilies,, 
and I know not what other properties. I had 
to make a clean breast of it, and give him a 
faithful and detailed description of the sweet- 
meat-box artists. 


CHAPTER VI. 


How glad I felt to start for Galicia ! In 
Madrid the heat had become stifling, while at 
home one could enjoy the pure, fresh air, filled 
with the sweet fragrance of the country. It 
seemed as if I had never breathed before, and 
that my exhausted lungs required that moist, 
balmy, and pure air in order to perform their 
functions properly. 

I am not one of those Galicians who feel 
homesickness very intensely, but, nevertheless, 
the first group of chestnuts which I recognized 
in the distance, appeared to me like a friend 
bidding me welcome home. 

My mother was at Ullosa, so I went there 
at once, partly by stage and partly on foot, for 
one has to make use of all sorts of locomotion 
to get there. I arrived at sunset, and my 
mother came out into the road to meet me. 
With joined hands, and arm in arm, we walked 
over the space which separates Ullosa from the 
highway. 



98 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


After she had wiped away the tears which 
invariably gather in a mother’s eyes when she^ 
sees her son after a long absence, her first 
volley of questions was as follows : “ So your 
uncle has hired a house, eh ? Is it true that he 
has furnished it very handsomely? That’s 
what a man does if he has money. They say 
that the bridal-bed is sumptuous. What rent 
does he pay ? Something frightful, I presume,^ 
because everything is up to the sky in Madrid. 
And do you know whether' he has yet secured 
a servant ? It will be a wonder if he does not 
hire some horrid jade. That’s the way the city 
council’s funds fly off. That’s why they do 
such mean things. Don’t say that they don’t^ 
or you’ll drive me wild, Salustio.” 

But, my dear mother, what difference does 
it make to us ? ” I exclaimed, when I could get 
in a word edgewise. “ How am I to blame 
because my uncle gets married ? ” 

“ Because you said it was all right,” she re- 
plied, stopping to take breath, while her lips 
quivered like children’s when their little 
troubles come upon them. 

*‘You seem to think my uncle would be 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


99 


guided by what I say. You must make the 
best of it, dear mother, and try to bear patiently 
what you can’t help. I am sure that is the 
best way to act, on all accounts, even for our 
own advantage.” 

My mother fixed her eyes on me. She was 
two years older than Uncle Felipe, and had 
kept her good looks remarkably, thanks to her 
robust health, to the simple and healthful life 
she led, and perhaps also to her l;^ck of serious 
thought and resulting intellectual weariness. 
She was as brisk as a bird, and her excitable 
and changeable disposition kept her from get- 
ting bilious, and whipped her blood into a 
more rapid circulation. Her moral fickleness, 
^er inability to rise to the region of general 
^nd abstract ideas, allowed my mother to keep 
all her energy and ability for action. It was 
her strong will which guided her thoughts ; 
and the predominance of the emotive and 
practical elements was revealed in her smooth, 
narrow brow, in the capricious play of her lips, 
and in the questioning, restless gaze of her 
-ever-watchful eyes. 

My mother never went to Pontevedra 




lOO 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


except in cold weather, or in Holy Week, or at 
Easter to take communion. The Ullosa place 
was kept up the year round. With all her re- 
viling of the Cardoso stock, my mother had 
much of the acquisitiveness, the sordid 
economy, and the mercantile spirit which 
characterize the Hebrew race. How much 
affection can do, and how it tangles up logic I 
Those traits which disgusted me in my uncle 
appeared like’ virtues in my mother, and really 
were so, if it is a virtue to make the best of 
circumstances. With a miserable four or 
five hundred, which was the most that could 
be got out of our property with the utmost 
squeezing, it was little short of a miracle to be 
able to live as she did with comparative com- 
fort, pay no small part of the expenses of my 
education, and even hide away inside of a 
mattress five or six onjsas for a rainy day. 
She who could succeed in doing this, was not 
an ordinary woman. 

My mother always wore the Carmelite 
habit, to save expense for dresses, of course. 
She had linen woven from the flax raised on 
her land, — that strong, coarse, brown, Galician 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


lor 


linen, which never wears out, — and made shirts 
and sheets out of that. Out of a vineyard of 
sour grapes she made a little claret with which 
she would regale me during my vacations ; 
from the rye raised in her fields, she made the 
bread she ate ; a couple of pigs, fattened at 
home, kept her pot full all the year round ; 
she raised chickens, to furnish her with eggs ; 
she got her wood from a bit of a grove ; she 
kept a cow, and sold it at the fair at a good 
profit when it no longer gave milk ; other 
cattle she used to have in partnership with 
her tenants, making some small gains in that 
way; she distilled brandy from the grape- 
skins, and preserved plums in it, — in fact, she 
did eveything possible to get the juice out of 
her money and her property, thus accomplish- 
ing those prodigies of good management and 
frugality, which a woman is only able to per- 
form when she lives alone. Forced by her 
sex to confine her business undertakings 
within narrow limits, she made up for it by 
looking carefully after the smallest details, and 
not wasting the value of a pin. Healthy, 
high-spirited, indefatigable, she passed every 


102 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


moment of the day in some useful occupation; 
and I even suspect that she sometimes did 
sewing or embroidery, in a secret way, for 
other people. 

“ I shall be as proud as a queen the day 
you finish learning your profession, and begin* 
to earn money,” she would say, when I used to 
express my amazement at seeing her so eager 
and so busy. 

So I studied with greater zest, desiring to be 
able to make the last years of my mother’s 
life easy and tranquil. But that was a mis- 
taken idea ; for, even if my mother were to have 
heaps of money, she would be just as active, 
given her temperament and disposition. She 
was so overflowing with life, and was so ener- 
getic and determined to get what she could 
out of the world, that far from inspiring com- 
passion, she should have excited envy in those 
of us who dwell much within ourselves, and 
finally make of our imagination a prison cell. 

My mother’s disposition was of the kind 
that makes people happy and strong, and arms 
them against the friction and disappointments 
of life. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 103 

It was singular, but when I did not see my 
mother, I idealized her, and gave her credit 
for certain traits and weaknesses associated 
with her sex, which she was far from possess- 
ing. For example, I was strongly persuaded 
that she had passionate religious convictions,. 
and sometimes I would respond to the pro- 
fane jokes of my companions, or exclaim when 
I gave utterance to some audacious assertion : 
“ Heaven grant that my mother may never 
know it.” If I ate meat in Holy Week, or 
remembered how long a time had passed 
without my going to church, I would say to 
myself: “I hope my mother wont find it 
out.” But the fact is that my mother, in 
spite of her Carmelite habit, attended to her 
church duties only perfunctorily, and never 
displayed any great concern for the welfare of 
my soul. 

That is not to say that the high-spirited 
Galician woman had no positive beliefs. 
Doubtless my mother inherited from her 
Jewish ancestors the most deeply-rooted of 
her religious convictions, namely, that God 
was an angry, vindictive and implacable be- 


104 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


ing — the God of the Old Testament who 
‘‘ visits the sins of the fathers upon the child- 
ren, to the third and fourth generation.” She 
believed naively that God does all this punish- 
ing unmercifully, right on the spot ; and she 
also imagined that he was particularly dis- 
posed to pour out all the vials of his wrath 
upon those who troubled her, Benigna Un- 
oeta, for any cause or in any way. Thanks to 
her incapacity for general ideas, she concluded 
that the Deity was greatly interested in her 
personal wrongs and resentments. So much 
so, that when she stopped on the slope be- 
tween us and Ullosa, quite out of breath with 
climbing and the vehemence of her anger, she 
exclaimed, in a prophetic tone : 

“You’ll see how God will punish your Uncle 
Felipe in His own way. You’ll see. Just 
wait ; he’ll not get off scot-free.” 

I protested against this singular supposition, 
and, as though a heavenly voice from above 
joined with me in proclaiming mercy and 
charity, just then the Angelus sounded from 
the little church near by, with subdued melan- 
choly and great poetic effect. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


105 


My mother turned abruptly and inquired : 

“ Are you going to the wedding ? ” 

Yes, indeed, and you ought to go also* 
It is scandalous that you should not go.” 

“ Don’t say anything to me, for I have no 
desire to be present at such a frightful scene. 
There never was, and never will be, such an 
absurd thing. Heaven grant that your uncle 
may not get an unfaithful wife ! I wouldn’t 
wager a copper that he will not, though, 
marrying at his age ! A nice thing it would 
be if I got married now ! ” 

I battled against her invincible obstinacy 
asserting that my uncle was at a very good 
age to marry, and that we should appear 
ridiculous if we were to get angry at such a 
natural and proper procedure. 

“ That’s all bosh ! ” cried my mother, furi- 
ously. “ A fine old mummy you are defend- 
ing ! I know what I say, and I also know 
what people tell me. God will square his 
accounts, though. Don’t imagine that I am 
crazy. Oh, no ; but he’ll take a tumble, you’ll 
see ! And the girl who marries him, I tell 
you, has no decency. I would not have your 



'r 


io6 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 

uncle if he were covered with gold, and if he 
were not my brother, I’d ” 

My mother gave me for my supper a coun- 
try dish, which she knew I was very fond of — 
corn-meal fritters with new milk. She would 
take out the fritters sizzling hot, and let them 
get cool, and form a crust ; then she would 
make a hole in the middle, and ppur in there 
the richest of milk out of an earthenware 
pitcher. While I was dispatching this 
delicacy of Homeric simplicity, she talked and 
questioned me incessantly, and would always 
come back to the starting-point — my uncle. 

He is now mixed up here in an affair, and I 
don’t know how it will end. They are having 
a terrible row, and it seems to me that they’ll 
settle him this time. It is another scrape, but 
much worse than that one about the lots and 
houses, though that was bad enough. The 
trouble now is in regard to the contract for 
the provision market ; they say that your uncle 
goes shares in the profits with the contractor, 
and that they have allowed him fearful oppor- 
tunities for extortion ; but that, nevertheless, 
the man has not fulfilled a single part of 


A Cm^ISTIAiV WOMAN, 107 

his contract, absolutely not one, so the 
municipal authorities are going to sue him.. 
And they are not what they were last year, 
your uncle has no hold there. He’ll have to go 

on a pilgrimage to the boss if Don Vicente 

does not help him out of this scrape it’ll be all 
up with him. But he’ll help him ; one is as 
bad as the other. By the power of Don 
Vicente’s protection, they can do what they 
please in this province. As your uncle is to 
go to live in Madrid, they are going to hire 
his house in Pontevedra for the post-office — 
another fat thing for him ! Nowadays, every- 
body has to be wide awake. A pretty state of 
things ! I am not a man, but if I were. I’d go 
on a pilgrimage to the boss’s house, like 
everybody else. I am saying this to you con- 
fidentially ; but be careful what you say any- 
where in public. Don Vicente has a crowd of 
dependents and powerful friends, and it would 
not do for him to take a dislike to you, 
because he may be useful to you some day.*’ 
On seeing her so demonstrative, I caught her 
by the waist and kissed her on the neck and 
cheeks, and too|c the occasion to say, laughingly, 


lo8 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

** My dear mother, in order to present myself 
at Tejo with some show of propriety, I ought 
to take a wedding gift to the bride. My uncle 
may be as bad as you choose, and may have 
served us a thousand scurvy tricks, but any- 
way, he is now paying a good part of the cost 
of my education.” 

He doesn’t do it for nothing. Look here, 
my boy, if we were to claim what rightly be- 
longs to us, — and who knows if he’ll keep on 
paying your expenses ? ” 

“ Why, that makes no difference, dear 
mother ; that makes no difference. Even if he 
should not, I must have the present.” 

“ But I haven’t a single cent ! Do you think 
I coin money here? Yes, much we are coin- 
ing ! It would cost me a pretty penny to do 
what you want.” 

“Well,” said I, resolutely, “then there’s no 
need of talking any more about it. I’ll go to 
Pontevedra to-morrow, and pawn my watch or 
my boots, for a present there must be. I have 
made up my mind to that.” 

The next morning my mother came into my 
room to awaken me. She had a basket of ripe 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. lo^ 

cherries which she left on my bed for me ta 
eat ; and in her hand were two little gleaming^ 
disks, which she held up to the height of my 
eyes. They were five dollar gold pieces. 

“ What do you think of that ? I have had 
trouble enough to scrape this together. Now 
go and squander it ; throw it away, since you 
are bound to. I don’t want you to say that 
your mother treats you badly, when she doesn’t 
need to, in any way whatever.” 

I threw my arms around her neck, and gave 
her three or four hearty smacks, while she pre- 
tended to ward me off, exclaiming: “You 
clown, you schemer, go out to walk, little 
boy!” 

With the ten dollars, I bought in the city a 
brooch with two crossed anchors and a little 
Cupid in the center, with a small ruby and two 
pearls. It was one of those senseless trinkets 
which fashion invents, but which good taste 
casts aside. But at least, now I was not going 
to the wedding empty-handed. 


CHAPTER VII. 


From Pontevedra to San Andres de Louza, 
and thence to the country seat of Tejo, was a 
pleasant excursion rather than a journey. I 
crossed at the mouth of the river in a launch, 
which I hired in Pontevedra. Landing on the 
opposite bank, I resolved to go on foot for 
about a quarter of a league, through the most 
beautiful country one can imagine. From the 
beach, showing the footprints so clearly 
marked in the fine, silvery sand, and lined by 
great clumps of flowering aloes, to the foot 
paths overrun with honeysuckle, and the corn- 
fields rustling in the breeze, it all seemed like 
an oasis ; and my soul was filled with that 
vague joy which, when one is young, is born of 
the excitement of the senses, and with a sort of 
inexplicable presentiment, a messenger of the 
future — a presentiment, which without neces- 
sarily being a forerunner of happy days, yet 
excites us as though they really would follow. 




no 


A CBRISTIAN WOMAN. 


1 1 r 


As the country-seat of my uncle’s prospec- 
tive father-in-law was situated on high ground^ 
I could see it from the very cove where I 
landed. To be more exact, all that I could 
see clearly was the square, turreted tower and 
the windows, stained red and gold by the 
setting sun. The rest of the building was 
hidden by a mass of verdure, probably a group 
of trees. Anyhow, I could see enough to 
guide me on my way. I left my valise in the 
village, saying that I would send after it on 
the following day, and went on. 

I was ascending the sloping path, whipping 
with my cane the rustling corn and bushes„ 
whence the startled butterflies flew ; when, at 
a turn of the road, I was greatly surprised to 
see a man sitting on a rock. My surprise may 
seem strange at first, but the fact is the man 
was a friar. For the first time in my life I 
was looking at a friar in flesh and blood. I 
was astonished, as if I had thought that friars 
were no longer to be met with, except in the 
canvases of Zurbardn or Murillo. 

All the knowledge I had of a friar’s dress 
was derived from pictures I had seen in the 


II2 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


museum, or from having seen Rafael Calvo,, 
once, in the Duke of Rivas’s drama, Don Al- 
varo^ or The Force of Destiny. I perceived 
that the friar seated on the rock was a Fran- 
ciscan. His coarse gown fell in statuesque 
folds over his limbs, his hood had fallen on his 
shoulders, and in his hand was one of those 
coarse felt hats, with the brim looped up like 
a French abba’s, with which he was fanning 
his brow, wet with perspiration, breathing 
heavily all the time. Soon, putting his hat on 
the ground, turning his elbows out, and rest- 
ing his open hands on his knees, he remained 
plunged in thought. 

I observed him with eager curiosity, imag- 
ining that by the simple fact of his being a 
friar, his mind must be filled with strange or 
sublime thoughts. 

He lifted his right hand, and thrusting it 
into his left sleeve, took out an enormous 
blue-and-white checked handkerchief from a 
kind of pocket formed in the folds of the 
sleeve, and blew his nose vigorously. Then 
he arose, took up his hat, and began to go on,, 
just as I came up to him. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 

I did not know whether to come close to 
"his side, or to fall back, or to pass on simply- 
wishing him good afternoon. Without any- 
known cause, that man attracted, interested 
and fascinated me. I had two antagonistic 
ideas about friars : on one side was the friar of 
the cheap chromos after Ortego — a glutton- 
ous, drunken, dissolute creature, a man with- 
out any sense of decency looking out from 
under his cowl ; on the other, was the friar of 
novels and poems, — gloomy, mystical, vision- 
ary, with his mind enfeebled by fasting, and 
his nerves shaken by abstinence ; fleeing from 
womankind, avoiding men ; dyspeptic, as- 
saulted by temptations and scruples. And I 
was eager to know to which of the two classes 
my friar belonged. 

As though he had read my thoughts, he 
stopped on hearing my footsteps, and faced 
me, while he said in a resolute and command- 
ing tone : 

“ Good afternoon, sir. You’ll excuse me for 
asking you a question. Do you come from 
San Andres de Louza, and are you going to 
the Aldao’s Tower?” 


11: 1 4 A CHRISTIAN PFOMAN. 

'' Yes, sir, I am going there,” I answered,, 
somewhat surprised. 

“ Well, if you have no objection, we’ll go 
along together. I know the way, because I 
have been there before. I take the liberty of 
making this proposition, as I imagine that 
whenever one finds himself traveling alone in 
the country, he is not offended — ” 

‘‘ Offense ! Quite the contrary,” I replied, 
pleased with the friar’s martial air. 

We went on side by side, because the path 
was widening and allowed us this privilege of 
sociability. I then noticed that he wore no 
shoes, but had on sandals which were fastened 
over the instep, thus leaving free his toes, 
which were fleshy and well-shaped like those 
of the statues of San Antonio of Padua. He 
at once began to question me. 

“ You must pardon me, for I am very frank,, 
and like to have people know each other. 
Are you, perchance, a relative of Carmifla 
Aldao ? ” 

“ No, sir, but of her betrothed. I am his 
nephew.” 

Ah, I know now ; the one who was study- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

ing in Madrid to become a civil engineer 
Benigna’s son.” 

“ Just so. How is it you know so much 
about me ? ” 

“ ril tell you. The Aldao family honor me 
with many confidences, and that’s the way I 
come to know so much about those details. 
And how do you get on with your studies ? I 
know also that you are very assiduous, and have 
a brilliant future before you. And I am very 
glad to make your acquaintance. I say so sin- 
cerely, for I am not in the habit of pay- 
ing compliments. But you don’t know my 
name yet. I didn’t tell you, because a poor 
friar does not need to introduce himself, as 
his habit is a sufficient introduction. My 
name is Silvestre Moreno, your humble ser- 
vant.” 

“ And my name is Salustio ” 

“Yes, I know, I know. Salustio Melendez 
Unceta.” 

“ I see that you know everything.” 

“ I wish I did,” replied the friar, with a good- 
natured laugh ; and then stopping suddenly, het 
said to me imploringly : 


Il6 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

“ Couldn’t you do me the favor to give me a 
cigarette ? ” 

I don’t smoke,” I answered, with a certain 
hauteur, which afterward seemed absurd to 
me. 

“You are quite right; one need the less. 
But I, oh, dear, I am so corrupted that — well, 
never mind, I must have patience till we get to 
Tejo.” 

“ How long is it since you have smoked? 

“ Heigh, ho, since yesterday afternoon. I 
have been staying at the house of an old lady 
in Pontevedra, who is a very respectable widow 
and lives there all alone. And you can well 
understand that neither she nor her maid 
smoke. I cut myself, when I was shaving in 
the morning, as I had a saw instead of a razor, 
and that lady was so kind, that she bought me 
a little English razor, fine enough to cut a 
thought ; here it is,” he added, pointing up 
his sleeve. “I haven’t used it yet. So you 
see, after that present, which must have cost 
her considerable, I couldn’t be mean enough 
to ask her for money for tobacco.” 

“ But,” cried I, infected by the friar’s frank- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


I17 

ness, “ don’t you carry a copper of your 
own ? ” 

“Why, to be sure I do not, most of the 
time, nor half of one.” 

“ How is that possible ? ” 

“ Why, good gracious, my vow of poverty — 
is that only a joke ? ” 

“ I am very sorry I don’t smoke,” I ex- 
claimed, “ if only for this once.” 

“ Don’t distress yourself, friend, for we 
friars don’t mind it when we cannot indulge 
a bad habit. Besides, when I get to Tejo I’ll 
have more good things than I want. You’ll 
see how Seflor Aldao will rush forward to offer 
me a cigar.” 

He said this with a cheerful and philosophi- 
cal air, and proceeded on his way in good 
spirits, walking faster than I could. A ques- 
tion kept springing to my lips, and I finally 
ventured to put it, “ Doesn’t it mortify you to 
go without shoes ? ” 

“ No, sir,” he replied, slowly, as though try- 
ing to recollect whether it really did annoy 
him. “ I did miss my shoes at first, or rather, 
not them, but my stockings, because I never 


^i8 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

wore any but those which my mother used to 
knit for me, and they were very heavy. Oh, I 
am mistaken ; I have worn stockings, and that 
of the finest silk, not so very long ago. I say 
this, that you may not fancy, because I am a 
friar, that I have never enjoyed such luxuries. 
However, that is foreign to our subject. But 
in regard to your question, which I wish to 
answer categorically, you must know that 
since I have been going around without shoes, 
I have never suffered with corns, chilblains, 
bunions, or anything of the kind.” 

As he spoke, he thrust out his foot, which 
was really well-shaped, and had none of the 
deformities caused by wearing shoes. 

“ And just observe, sir, what habit will do. 
It seems to me now that I am cleaner this 
way. I have come to think that shoes and 
stockings serve only to hide nastiness. No 
one who goes without shoes has really dirty 
feet, no matter how much he may walk or how 
hot it may be ; especially if he has the habit I 
have ” — suiting the action to the word, he drew 
aside a few. steps, and approaching the little 
brook which flowed by the side of the path- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 1 19 

way, between reeds and briers, took off his 
sandals, tucked up his gown a little, and thrust 
first one foot and then the other into the 
flowing stream. After he had dried them on 
the grass, he put on his sandals, and looked at 
me with a triumphant air. I smiled under the 
impulse of an idea, or, rather, a very warm 
feeling, which might be expressed in these 
words : 

“ What a queer friar, and how nice he is! 

“ Come now, I can guess what you are 
thinking about,” said he. 

“ Perhaps you can. Go on, and I’ll tell you 
if you are right.” 

“ Well, then, you are thinking under your 
coat, there, that we friars pay little atten. 
tion to our manners, that we are very demo- 
cratic, and don’t understand the ways of 
society ; and, besides, that we are very crafty 
in our dealings with people.” 

“No, indeed, sir, by.no means! I was 
thinking ” 

“Call me Father Moreno, or simply, 
Moreno, if it is the same to you. That *sir’ 
sounds too formal for a poor friar.” 


120 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


“ Well, Father Moreno, what I was puzzling* 
over — but there, I am afraid if I tell you I 
shall offend you.” 

“ By no means, by no means. I like frank- 
ness.” 

“ Well, I was thinking that friars do not 
generally have the reputation of being so — so 
much devoted to bodily cleanliness as you 
are.” 

While saying this, I was looking at him out 
of the corner of my eye, examining his hands, 
his ears, his neck ; all which outwardly betray 
a person’s habits of cleanliness. 

“ I even thought you considered it sinful to 
■care for the person. They say that the chief 
merit of some ascetic saints consisted in their 
carrying a thousand inhabitants on their, per- 
sons ; and having their hair and beards — 
colonized ! ” 

Instead of getting angry at my impertinence, 
the friar burst into the heartiest laugh I ever 
heard in a man’s mouth. 

“ So that’s what you thought,” he said, when 
his mirth would allow him to speak. “And 
you, who appear to be so well informed a 


A CHRIST/AN WOMAN. 


121 


young fellow, don’t you know what the glori- 
ous St. Teresa used to say? Why, she would 
bathe herself thoroughly, and then exclaim^ 
‘ Lord, make my soul like my body ! ’ So you 
thought that all we friars were stupid pigs I 
No wonder you felt startled when you met me ! 
Have you ever met any friars except your 
humble servant ? ” 

“ To tell the truth, you are the first I ever 
met in my life. Furthermore, I thought you 
no longer existed. Of course, it was nonsense ; 
for I know that they are re-peopling the con- 
vents of various orders in Spain. But, hon- 
estly, I had the fancy thaf friars were only to 
be found in paintings, in the figures in churches,, 
and, consequently — but it was all a mistake, of 
course.” 

“ Well, here you see a live one. It is the 
same with friars as with the rest of the world, 
and you will readily understand that there are 
many different tastes and dispositions, though 
all are governed by the same rule. Some are 
careless, while others pay more attention to 
dress. But, as you ai^ aware, our sacred garb 
does not allow us to carry about many per- 


122 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


fumery bottles, or an array of essences and po- 
mades. How nice a friar would look using Fay’s 
wash, or Kananga — or what the deuce do they 
call that perfume which is so much the rage 
just now ? ” 

“ I see that you know all about it, Father,” 
I exclaimed, laughing in my turn. 

‘‘ It is because I am often with some very 
stylish and elegant ladies. Don’t feel surprised 
that I desire to clear myself, and all poor little 
friars, of the bad reputation you give us. Just 
fancy, our Holy Founder was so fond of water 
that he even composed some fine verses pro- 
claiming it pure and clean ! I speak to you 
with entire frankness ; I do like neat people, 
but I do'n’t like excessive care of the person. 
That seems to me sickening and disgusting. 
Goodness ! This wasting a half hour by a 
young fellow in trimming and polishing his 
nails — that may pass in a woman, — but for a 
man who wears a beard — bah ! ” 

As he said this, the friar folded his arms, and 
turned toward me, as if tired and wanting to rest. 

In the reddish light of the setting sun 
which so clearly defines the form, I could see 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 125 

that his was in perfect harmony with that pro- 
fession of manly faith. He was robust, with- 
out being stout, and of good height, without 
being very tall. His dark, olive complexion 
indicated a bilious temperament, and his skin 
was bronzed by journeying exposed to the 
blazing sun. His very black eyes were quick, 
lively, and well-shaped ; with a piercing look 
which seemed to search the very depths of 
your soul. His neck, left uncovered by his 
tonsure, indicated strength'; and so did his 
hands, large, strong, and flexible — hands 
which might serve alike gently to elevate the 
Host, or to use the spade, the cudgel, or the 
musket, in case of need. His features did not 
belie his hands, and were drawn as though by 
a skilled sculptor ; uniting that calmness and 
firrnness to be seen in certain statues. On his 
upper lip and in the middle of his chin he had 
two dimples, which almost always indicate a 
kindly heart, destined to modify a naturally 
severe disposition. I even noticed his ears, 
which were wide and almost flexible, like a 
confessor’s — ears with a great deal of char- 
acter, such as ecclesiastics usually have. 


124 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


“ What a friar he is ! What a vigorous 
nature he seems to have ! I kept thinking in 
surprise. 

We held on our way. We must now have 
been quite near to the Aldao place, but we 
could not reach it until nightfall, which was 
rapidly approaching. The fragrance of the 
honeysuckle was more penetrating ; the dogs 
thrust their noses through the fences, and 
barked at us with the greatest fury; far away 
you could hear the owls hooting ; and the new 
moon, like a fine line traced in the sky, showed 
itself over the river. The friar uttered a slight 
exclamation, thus proving that he appreciated 
the beauty of the scene. 

“ What a lovely afternoon ! Ah ! but this 
is a beautiful country ! The more you see it, 
the more you admire it. And how cool it is ! 
Too much so for me. For my part, I prefer 
the climate of Africa.” 

“ Have you been much in Africa?” 

I should say so ! Why, I am half Moor.” 

^‘And have you journeyed over the desert?” 

“ Certainly and without any tents, or store 
of provisions, or escort, or any other traps, 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


125 


such as explorers usually carry. I traveled 
around mounted on a mule, with a couple of 
hens tied to the pommel of my saddle ; drink- 
ing water from the pools ; and sleeping under 
the wide canopy of the stars. Thus I have 
wandered far over those sandy wastes, and had 
many an adventure.” 

I should have liked to question him about 
his African travels, but just then I was pricked 
on by a greater curiosity, as we drew near to 
Tejo and could see its white walls and a great 
black blotch of trees, as it seemed to me. I 
wanted to test the exactness of my mother s 
information by finding the opinion of a person 
whom I already believed to be extremely 
impartial and straightforward. 

“ Tell me. Father Moreno, are you ac- 
quainted with the family into which my uncle 
is to marry? What sort of a person is his be- 
trothed ? What kind of a man is her father?”' 

“ Of course, I know them,” replied the friar^ 
putting, as it were, a mask of discreet reserve 
over his frank face. “ They are a very nice 
family, and your uncle’s betrothed, is — a very 
good young lady, indeed.” 


/ 


126 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


“ And — is she pretty ? ” 

The friar was not shocked by my question, 
but answered freely : 

“ I am but a poor judge of that. Perhaps I 
may be mistaken, but I will confess that she 
does not appear to me to be ravishingly 
beautiful. I would not call her ugly, but 
neither — Although I say I’m a poor judge, yet 
it is not because I have not had an opportu- 
nity of seeing women ; for, over there in 
Tangiers, Tetudn, and Melilla, there are Jewish 
and Moorish women who are considered very 
beautiful. You’ll be surprised, but I have 
some Moorish friends who thought so much of 
me that one of them showed me his harem. 
Among those people it was a great mark of 
esteem, I tell you.” 

“ Ah,” I murmured, unable to keep back a 
mischievous remark. “So the door of the 
harem was opened to you ? ” 

“Yes,” replied the friar, with great simplicity; 
“and do you want to hear a description of my 
friend’s favorite, the chosen one, I say, of this 
Moorish friend of mine, who was a very 
wealthy man in that place?” 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


127 


How did she look ? Very enticing ? ” 

I have already told you that I am but a 
poor judge, and can only describe her outward 
appearance ; and you may decide for yourself. 
She wore a rich silk dress, cut low in the neck, 
which was covered with diamond necklaces and 
strings of big pearls. She had on at least two 
or three. She wore large gold bands on her 
arms, like those described by Cervantes in his 
novel El Cautivo. Haven’t you read it ? 
Well, that was the kind. Then there were 
cushions and cushions and more cushions; 
some under her arms, others under her hips, 
and others behind her head. Their purpose 
was to prevent her chafing herself, for she 
was almost bursting with fat, which is the 
secret of beauty among Moorish women. This 
one could not stir. Do you know how they 
used to fatten her? Why, with little bread 
balls, and in such numbers that it could no 
longer be called fattening a woman, but cram- 
ming her. She was smoking through a tube as 
long as this, and in front of her she fi^d a little 
table inlaid with mother-of-pearl, which was 
covered with sweetmeats and various drinks.” 


128 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

“ Ah, you old rogue of a friar ! ” I thoughtr 

You pretend to be very simple and innocent, 
though you are really the greatest and most 
crafty rogue in the world. You are boring me 
with all this gossip about the Moors so as not 
to drop anything about my prospective aunt. 
But I’ll catch you yet! Just wait!” So I 
said aloud : 

“ Father Moreno, as you can describe a 
Moorish woman so well, you can surely draw 
the likeness of a Christian woman. At least, 
you might inform me whether my uncle’s be- 
trothed is stuffed with bread balls, or if she 
has a slender and graceful figure, like the 
palm-tree of the desert. Come, Father!” 

We were ascending the stony path which 
runs along the inclosure of Tejo, and there 
we could not walk side by side. So the friar 
turned around and faced me, in order to reply. 
The last rays of the sun had disappeared, but 
in the twilight I could see his eyes gleam, 
while he answered me with a strange mixture 
of sportive grac,e and earnestness : 

“ Sir, pardon, I pray you, a poor friar for 
expressing himself in a manner conformable 


A CHRISTIAN’ WOMAN. 129 

to the habit he wears, and to the rule he 
obeys.' I may describe the person of a Moor- 
ish woman, a heathen, because, if God has 
made it beautiful, it is the only thing we can 
praise about her ; since her soul is wrapped in 
the darkness of error. But you, yourself, 
have called your uncle’s betrothed a Christian 
woman ; and I, for my part, am fully per- 
suaded that she is worthy of that name ; so — 
pardon me, if I express myself with too much 
warmth — I was going to say, that name so 
sublime. A Christian woman’s soul is the 
first, and perhaps the only thing about her 
worthy of praise, and any other eulogies 
would not sound well, coming from my lips. 
A body which incloses a soul, redeemed by 
the blood of Christ ! Ah ! I am not going to 
praise her to you with pretty words, or flowers 
of rhetoric. If I assure you that your future 
aunt is indeed a Christian woman, I have said 
all that I have to say.” 

“ Is she so very good. Father Moreno ? ” 
“ Excellent, excellent, excellent ! ” 

The tone in which the friar repeated this 
adjective, left no room for further urging. 


130 


A CHRISTIAN- WOMAN 


Besides, we had reached the gate. Neverthe- 
less, when the father seized the knocker, I 
could not refrain from asking, in an insinuat- 
ing tone : 

“ And do yOu come to the wedding out of 
pure friendship. Father Moreno 7 ” 

“Oranges ! “ he exclaimed, in the harsh tone 
which usually emphasizes the most innocent 
expletives ; “ Why, I have come to perform 
the ceremony ! ” 



CHAPTER. VIII. 

f 

The ponderous gate swung open, and we 
found ourselves in a court filled with shrubs 
and creepers, which climbed all over the front 
of the villa, almost concealing its architecture. 
The vines and shrubs were covered with blos- 
soms, and gave out a delightful fragrance — 
that divine perfume, beyond the reach of the 
chemist’s art, which can be distilled nowhere 
but in the mysterious laboratory of Nature. 

Seated on stone benches and rustic iron 
chairs, enjoying the moonlight, were several 
persons who rose as we entered and came 
forward to welcome Father Moreno with joy- 
ful exclamations. They noticed no one but 
him at first, and that gave me time to study 
them attentively. My uncle wa^ foremost, 
dressed in a white duck suit, and by his side 
Avas a young lady of medium height, of light 
and elegant figure, who uttered a cry of joy 
on seeing the father. On the left was a man 


132 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


pretty well advanced in years, bald and with 
a mustache — the father-in-law. Behind him 
stood a very young, little priest, almost a boy; 
and near him a tall girl of about sixteen years, 
and a little girl who could not have been more 
than twelve. 

They all gathered around the father, bid- 
ding him welcome with a confusion of voices. 
At last they remembered that I was in exist- 
ence, and my uncle introduced me : 

“ Seflor de Aldao, this is Benigna’s son, my 
nephew, — Carmifia, this is Salustio.” 

My future auntie looked at me abstractedly. 
All her attention was absorbed by the father. 
Nevertheless, after a little while she turned to- 
ward me, and asked whether my mother would 
come, for she much desired to see her. I 
made excuses for my mother’s absence as well 
as I could, and Sefiorita Aldao returned to her 
attentions to the friar. “ Wouldn’t you like 
some water, orangeade, ale, sherry wine? A 
glass of milk ? A sip of chocolate ? ” 

“ My child ! ” cried the father, pushing her 
back familiarly, as one would brush away a 
fly, “ If you want to give me something I 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


133 


would wish, — good gracious, give me half a 
cigarette, although it were of straw ! 

In the twinkling of an eye two cigar-cases 
flew open, and Seftor Aldao and my uncle 
offered him their cigars, and several matches 
were immediately lighted. My uncle’s Havana 
cigar was given the preference. 

“ You may well enjoy smoking it,” said he, 
for he was fond of praising what he gave away. 

It came from no one less than Don Vicente 
Sotopefia.” 

“ Ah, of course he wouldn’t have any but the 
very best — plague on him ! ” 

“ Sit down, sit down and smoke,” they all 
besought him. 

Seated at last, with the cigar between his 
lips, he proceeded to answer the questions of 
each and every individual. They wanted to 
know when he had left Compostela, and how 
were the other friars, and what was going on 
there. 

I sat a little apart from the rest, overcome 
by a singular feeling of abstraction, a sort of 
mental intoxication. Reclining on a bench, I 
perceived that at my back the branches of a 


134 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 

magnificent creeper were spread like green silk 
tapestry. It was the Datura, or “ Trumpet of 
the Day of Judgment and it did not require 
a very vivid imagination to compare its gigan- 
tic white blossoms to cups full of exquisite 
perfume. A double jasmine, entwined with 
the Datura, stretched itself along the wall. 
Those pleasant odors, set astir by the light 
breeze, mounted to my brain and quickened 
my young blood, inspiring me with an eager 
longing for love, — an ethereal, pure, and deep 
love — an absorbing passion, ready to defy all 
laws, both human and divine. When we make 
a change of abode, — even though our fortune 
may not be altered, — when we enter a circle of 
unknown people, our imagination and self-love 
become excited, and those to whom we were 
totally indifferent yesterday, suddenly become 
of interest to us, and we feel anxious in re- 
gard to the opinion they may form of us, and 
to the feelings with which we inspire them. 

The government official, the army officer, 
who is sent to a distant post, has a vague idea 
of the place where he is going to reside. But 
scarcely has he set foot in it, when the past is 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 135 

blotted out, and the present rules over him 
with the great power of the actual, and the 
stimulus of the novel and unknown. 

In that way, excited by my new horizon, 
though somewhat mortified in the bottom of 
my heart because they paid no attention what- 
ever to me, I imagined that those people, barely 
seen for the first time, strangers to me a few 
moments before, would yet have some decisive 
influence on my heart or fortune. I began by 
imagining that in the bosom of that family, so 
peacefully gathered together enjoying the 
moonlight, a very strange moral drama was be- 
ing unfolded, of which the friar undoubtedly 
knew the mystery. 

There are everywhere dramas behind the 
scenes, and secret histories, I reflected, with my 
brain intoxicated by the delightful fragrance 
of the jasmine. At Josefa Urrutia’s house 
there in Madrid the drama has a grotesque 
form, but is none the less real. A famous 
farce might be made of Botello’s life and for- 
tunes. If there is anything going on here. 
Father Moreno must know all about it. Why 
does this young lady, remarkable as she seems. 


136 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


marry 'my disagreeable uncle? Is it true that 
they treat her badly ? No, for my mother her- 
self, when I pressed her, confessed that that 
was a rumor without the slightest foundation. 
And these little girls I see here, what roles do 
they take ? And Senor Aldao’s mistress, 
where is she ? And that engaged couple, sit- 
ting in a spot so fitted to stir the senses and 
the imagination, are they in love with each 
other ? And if they are not, why do they get 
married ? 

I was suddenly aroused from these reveries 
by the young priest, who approaching me said 
in a boyish voice and an unpleasant Galician 
accent : 

“ Pardon my curiosity, but are you Dona 
Benigna’s son ? ” 

“ Yes, I am.’’ 

“ The one who is studying to be an electric, 
magnetic scientist ? ” 

At first I did not understand his poor 
attempt at wit, so he added : 

“Who is studying to be an ingenious, — I 
mean, an engineer.” 

^‘Ah, yes.” 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 137 

Well, I am glad to meet you. Do you 
want anything ? Do you feel tired ? Do you 
smoke? ” 

And are you the parish priest at San An- 
dres de Louza? ” I inquired, just to say some- 
thing. 

With the most unwarrantable familiarity 
the little priest put his hand on my head, and, 
forcing me to bow it till it touched my knees, 
he shrilled : 

Come down, come down, your Excellency, 
for I am not up so high as that. Parish 
priest ! Oh, if you had called me one of the 
clergy, contentaverit mihL I am still an ap- 
prentice, or, in other words, a raw recruit in the 
sacred militia.” 

He sat down by me, and began to talk to 
me in the most nonsensical fashion, though I 
scarcely paid him any attention, because, in 
truth, my thoughts were quite otherwise en- 
gaged. Meanwhile the hour was approaching 
when the heavy dew, and the dampness which 
impregnates the air, makes it unpleasant in 
Galicia to remain out of doors. Our host 
arose and had us enter and go up to a little 


138 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

parlor, adorned with cretonne hangings; 
thence we passed into the spacious dining- 
room, where the supper was served by two 
attendants; one with the appearance of a 
rough country lout, the other somewhat more 
polished, both being under the direction of a 
fat old woman, who shuffled her feet as she 
walked, and who, in spite of the decay into 
which her attractions had fallen, I fancied 
must be Senor Aldao’s ex-mistress. The two 
girls that I had met in the court had vanished, 
and did not make their appearance either at 
the table or in the parlor. 

I was seated opposite my uncle’s betrothed, 
and the lamp shone full on her face, so that I 
could satisfy my curiosity by gazing at her — 
fairly devouring her face, in fact. I at once 
acknowledged to myself that Father Moreno 
was right ; she was neither beautiful nor plain. 
Her lithe, graceful figure was finer than her 
face ; the latter having a somewhat sharp pro- 
file, and lacking the clear complexion and 
regular features which are the primary ele- 
ments of beauty. But after a brief study, 
I came to the conclusion that if she was 


A CHI^ISTIAN WOMAN. 


139 


not handsome, she was at least very fascinat- 
ing. 

When she opened her black eyes, with their 
animated expression ; when she smiled ; when 
she turned in answer to some question, her 
mobile face became expressive, life flashed 
through all those features which I had im- 
agined to be always cold and in repose, in 
spite of my having already seen in her 
photograph, by the light of the street 
lamp in Madrid, some indefinable revelation 
of spirit. 

Carmina Aldao laughed but seldom, and 
yet she did not appear to be melancholy. , Her 
animation was that of the will. She even 
seemed demonstrative in the extreme when I 
gave her my little offering after supper, and 
praised the poor trinket in the most enthusias- 
tic manner. 

“ What good taste ! Look here, papa, 
Felipe ! How cunning it is ! And did you 
choose it yourself ? Just think of it, a student I 
Ah, it is clear that you can be intrusted with 
commissions. Why, it is beautiful ! ” 

Father Moreno also put in his oar, saying : 


140 A Cffl^ISTIAN WOMAN. 

I declare it is beautiful, indeed. That’s what 
rich people can do, but we poor friars do not 
dare to be so extravagant. Our gifts are more 
simple — ” 

As he spoke, he went off in search of his 
traveling bag, his only luggage, which a boy 
had brought from San Andres de Louza ; and 
produced from its depths a pearl crucifix of 
the kind they bring from Jerusalem, which, 
though of modern make, shows the body of the 
Lord carved with a certain Byzantine stiffness. 
It was half a yard long. 

“ It is all that I can give you, my daughter,” 
he said. “ This crucifix has touched the Stone 
of Golgotha, where our Lord’s cross was 
erected.” 

The young girl did not reply, but with a 
rapid movement she bent over and kissed either 
the crucifix or the hand which offered it to her, 
I do not know which. 

The friar went on bringing out from his bag 
a variety of rosaries, some of pearl, others of 
black olive-pits , strung on a cord and not yet 
clasped into a circle. “ These come from the 
olive-trees on the Mount of Olives,” he ex- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 141 

plained, while he separated and distributed 
them among those who were present. When 
it came to my turn, I must have made a move- 
ment of surprise, for the friar said, with stately 
courtesy: 

“ Don’t you want it ? You must take things, 
remembering from whom they come ; we are 
poor by vocation, so we cannot offer gifts of 
more material value. Sir Salustio.” 

I took the rosary, somewhat embarrassed 
by the lesson he gave me. Meanwhile some 
people had arrived from San Andres to help 
pass the evening pleasantly, and make up a 
game at cards : the parish priest,- the druggist, 
and an adjutant of the Marines. They offered 
me the fourth seat at the table, but I refused, 
as I feared I might lose, and find myself with- 
out money in a stranger’s house. My uncle 
sat down by his sweetheart and began to talk 
to her. Father Moreno went off to read his 
breviary, and I was again left to the tender 
mercies of the clerical apprentice. 

“ Where is my room ? ” I inquired. “ Do 
you know? I should like to go to bed.” 

“ I don’t know,” he said ; “ but he who has 


142 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


a tongue — goes to Rome. Come on, take hold 
of my little finger.” 

We went through the dining-room. The 
lamp was still lit, and the old woman was 
overlooking the operation of taking off the 
table-cloth, gathering up the glasses and plates, 
and putting away the dessert. I again fixed 
my attention on the retired sultana. She 
certainly must have been good-looking in 
former times, but now her scanty gray locks, 
her skin blotched with erysipelas, together 
with her great obesity, rendered her abomina- 
ble. She appeared to be industrious, fond of 
scolding, but at the same time quite humble, 
and resigned to her life below stairs. 

The little priest, preparatory to asking her a 
question, squeezed her right arm. 

“ Oh, Seraffn, be quiet. What irnpudent 
tricks you do play ! My, what a fellow ! ” 

“ one can pinch you without danger; 

for you are at least proof against all tempta- 
tion. Where is the cuhiculo, or, in other 
words, bed-room of this young gentleman ? ” 

“ Right next to yours. May the Lord give 
the unlucky man patience to stand you so 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


143 


near ! Candidina, Candidina, bring a light, 
and show these gentlemen their way.” 

The tall maid before-mentioned appeared, 
candle in hand. She had a fair light com- 
plexion, innocent and even slightly stupid 
features, — which somewhat resembled a wood- 
en cherub’s ; but her little eyes were speaking 
and mischievous, and she lowered them so 
that they should not betray her. She went on 
ahead, and we followed her up a steep stair- 
case. She led us to our rooms up in the 
tower, which were separated from each other 
by a narrow hall. These rooms had not been 
made over, when Senor Aldao had the tower 
reconstructed, and were very old. Probably 
they were ordinarily used for storing chest- 
nuts or squashes. The furniture consisted 
only of a bed, two chairs, a small table, and 
a wash-stand. 

The girl left the candle on the table and 
said : 

“ That’s Serafin’s room, and this is yours. 
They are plenty large enough.” 

“ Even enough for you, too,” said the cleri- 
cal apprentice, in a most impudent manner. 


144 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


The girl winked and laughed aloud, while 
she waved her hand threateningly at Serafin ; 
but immediately afterward she turned toward 
me and, assuming a most modest demeanor, 
asked, in a humble tone, whether I had any 
orders to give her. I said I should like to 
have some writing materials, and she replied 
that she would run and get them at once. As 
she carried off the candle, I was left almost in 
the dark, and could only see by the reflection 
of the moon. I went up to the window, and 
beheld, close by, a vast, dark mass stretching 
itself out ; a sort of vegetable lake, which 
resembled a single tree — although I doubted 
it could be, on account of its si^e. Afar off, 
the river gleamed like a gray satin robe, dot- 
ted with silver spangles ; the crescent moon 
was multiplied in its bosom, and the imper- 
ceptible sound of the lapping of the waves 
against the beach mingled with the soft 
night breeze, which shook the branches near 
by. 

A cool, moist breeze caressed my cheeks. 
Candidina interrupted my meditation, stealing 
in without knocking at the door. She brought 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


145 


In one hand an inkstand, almost running over; 
and in the other, besides the candle, paper, 
envelopes, a stub of a pen, and a cornucopia 
filled with sand. 

‘‘Aunt Andrea says that you must excuse us 
for having everything so topsy-turvy. She 
says that to-morrow, without fail, she will give 
you the sand-box. She says that in the 
country one must overlook a great deal.” 

I began to gather things together prepara- 
tory to writing to Luis Portal, but the girl, in- 
stead of going off, remained standing there, 
gazing at me as if my person and my actions 
were matters of great curiosity. When she 
peeped over my shoulders to see how I 
arranged my paper, she said, with almost child- 
ish surprise, and with the sweet accent pecu- 
liar to the people who live on the seashore of 
Galicia : 

“ Oh, are you going to write to-night, when 
it is so late ? ” 

A capricious fancy flashed through my im- 
agination, a thrill ran along my veins, which I 
repressed with the comparative effort needed 
to subject purely physical impulses. 


146 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


“ Be a little careful, Salustio. You are ex* 
cited to-day. Go very slowly.” 

Then, in order to say something to the girl^ 
I asked: 

“ Is that a single tree I see from the win- 
dow ? ” 

‘‘ Why, don’t you know it is the Tejo (the 
yew-tree) ? ” 

“A single yew cover that immense space I 
Santa Barbara ! It must be .at least half a 
league in circumference.” 

“ Half a league ! How absurd ! Don’t ex- 
aggerate so. It is not half a league from this 
place to San Andres. But I tell you it is 
three stories high.” 

“ Three stories in a tree ! ” 

“ Oh, it’s so, you’ll see ! One is the ball- 
room, the other is where they take coffee, and 
from the third you can see a great deal of 
land — and the river, and everything.” 


CHAPTER IX. 


Fac-SIMILE of my letter to Luis Portal : 
My dear Boy : 

Here I am at your orders at Tejo, the coun- 
try-seat of the father of my uncle*s lady-love — 
confound him ! called so, not my uncle, but the 
country-seat, on account of a colossal yew-tree, 
which, according to what they say, is three 
stories high, as high as the finest house in 
Orense. 

I have just arrived here, so I can’t tell you 
yet what I think about the bride and the peo- 
ple here, to wit : her father, an old woman who 
had some connection with the father in former 
times, and two daughters or nieces of the old 
woman ; one well grown, and although she is 
called Cd.ndida — well, the least said about that 
the better. My future auntie is a young lady 
of graceful bearing, with a pleasant face, if you 
examine it attentively. She has pretty eyes, 
very pretty, indeed. I know not whether she 
is in love, but she displays considerable affec- 
tion for my uncle, — well, old chap, I come back 
to my old subject. Can you believe that a 
decent and high-minded woman — and they say 
that my auntie is such — can marr}^ such a man 
just for the sake of marrying? Does not her 


147 


148 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


little heart conceal some secret experience ? 
Or can it be that, by reason of her own inno- 
cence, she imagines that to marry a man is only 
like taking his arm for a promenade ? 

The thing fills my mind, because in a very 
short time 1 have formed a private opinion in 
regard to Carmina Aldao, due to the informa- 
tion I have received from a friar. Don’t you 
know, my boy ? I have journeyed with a ver- 
itable friar, a Franciscan, barefooted and all 
that. And he praised my auntie up to the sky, 
saying that she is a model of a Christian woman. 
This is singular, indeed, coming from a friar. 
If you could see what a curious type this 
Father Moreno is ! He is one of the most un- 
affected, simple, frank, and fascinating beings 
the Lord ever created ! He amazes me. 
Nothing startles him nor is he bigoted ; he 
does not avoid talking upon any subject which 
may be alluded to, in good society, nor does 
he treat one disdainfully, or fall into any pious 
foolishness ; nor does he do anything that does 
not seem cordial, discreet, and fitting. Vou 
must not think, by what I am saying, that the 
friar is taking me in ; that’s not so easily done. 
On the contrary, I am dreadfully stirred up by 
his gift of fascinating everybody around him, 
including myself. I will watch him ; and I am 
of little use, if I don’t unmask him yet. What 
does the rogue mean ? To make himself able to 
win more proselytes ? There’s no doubt about 
it, with his charming disposition and manners 
he secures and exerts great influence. Is it 
possible that he is concealing other schemes 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


149 


• 

not in accordance with his garb? For he is 
either a saint or a hypocrite, although quite 
different from any ordinary hypocrite. Do you 
believe, my boy, that a man can live that way, 
surrounded by breakers and quicksands, with- 
out running upon them ? One rnust admit 
that his vow of perpetual poverty is no pre- 
tense, for I have found out that he does not 
even carry enough money to buy a pipe ; like- 
wise his vow of obedience, though soldiers also 
obey their superior officers; but as for his vow 
of chastity — well, if he keeps that — don’t you 
think that’s rather fishy, my boy? 

As you can fancy, my uncle is as deeply in 
love as is possible for him. To tell the truth, 
his sweetheart seems to be a great catch for 
him. Perhaps Senor Aldao has not much 
money, because they say he likes display and 
that his country-seat eats up his cash ; also, 
that his married son bleeds him freely. But 
with all that, I think that my uncle has more 
than he could have hoped for. 

The wedding will take place soon, on the 
day of Our Lady of Carmen. My uncle sleeps 
at the druggist’s in San Andres ; but I, not 
being the lover, am entertained at Tejo, I will 
tell you what goes on here. 

Write to me, old chap, you lazy fellow. I 
presume you go on chewing your old cud of 
opportunism and compromise with everybody, 
even the devil himself. 

You are a great rogue ! — I forgot, tear this 
up at once, — but you are so prudent you were 
sure to have done so without my asking it. 


150 ^ CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

I had finished, and, luckily, had just sealed 
up my letter, when the little clerical apprentice 
entered my room unceremoniously. If it were 
not for circumstances which will appear in due 
time, I would not describe, so minutely the 
appearance of that priest in embryo ; but it 
will be a help to say that he had a sort of rat’s 
snout, a small mouth without lips, which dis- 
played his decayed and irregular teeth when 
he smiled ; that he had a small hooked nose, 
eyes drawn up toward his brain, which could 
hardly have been larger than a sparrow’s ; a 
white face spotted with large freckles ; and 
that he was beardless, while his hair, eyelashes, 
and eyebrows were red. I was in doubt 
whether he was a simpleton or a puppy. At 
the same time he was something like a forward 
child, which prevented any one from taking 
his words or actions seriously. 

“ Bathe ? ” he asked, addressing me imper- 
sonally as he was wont to do. 

“ Do I bathe?” 

“ Do you bathe in the ocean, sir, — in San 
Andres? I ask because I go down to the 
beach every day, and might accompany you.” 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 15 1 

“ Very well ; we’ll take a dip.” 

“ I thought it would please you, that about 
the sea-baths. Your uncle also takes a dip 
every morning. He does it like a cod-fish; 
but he does not seem to get any cleaner for 
all that. He, he ! ” 

“ The worst of it is, I have no bathing-suit.” 

“ Nor I, neither. But if you are so squeam- 
ish — all you have to do is to go to some corner 
behind a rock.” 

What ? ” 

Or put on an extra pair of drawers.” 

“ Well, that might do.” 

Meanwhile, the little priest, or acolyte as 
he might better be called, leaned back in his 
chair as though he were going to stay all night. 
I saw that it was necessary to use no cere- 
mony with him, so I undressed rapidly and 
got into bed. 

“ Are you sleepy? ” asked Serafin, approach- 
ing the bed, and with the greatest familiarity 
pinching my shoulder and patting my cheeks. 
I screamed, and instinctively struck him a 
hard blow, which made him burst out laugh- 
ing convulsively. Then he tried to find out, 


152 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

by experiment, whether I was ticklish ; or if I 
was in love — for that purpose cruelly squeez- 
ing my little finger. 

That strange familiarity, more suitable to a 
child of six years than to a man, and espec- 
ially a man who aspired to the priesthood, 
inspired me with a ludicrous contempt for 
him ; though, at the same time, with a certain 
tolerance for his faults ; and I threatened 
to throw my boot at him, if he did not 
keep quiet. That threat took effect ; Serafin 
sobered down, and, throwing himself like a lap- 
dog across the foot of my bed, he said that he 
was not sleepy and that he wanted to talk 
to me. 

I told him that he might go on, and never 
was a programme more faithfully carried out 
to the very letter. A flood of ridiculous non- 
sense rushed from that mouth ; laughable sim- 
plicities mixed with bits of theological learn- 
ing, and fragments of coarse wit, so pointed at 
times, that I was amazed, and quite unable to 
solve the problem whether that individual 
were a born idiot or a tremendous rogue. 

“ So you come from Madrid. Ah, how de- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 1$$ 

lightful Madrid must be ! I have never been 
there. Have no cash for the railroad. Cash I 
I wish I might see some ! Well, Serafin, my 
boy, when it rains dollars you’ll get some. 
And are the streets in Madrid like — those — of 
Pontevedra ? I suppose the pavements are of 
marble. Well, the people there go off to the 
other world, either raging or singing, don’t 
they? Well, then I 3o not envy the people in 
Madrid a bit. All are equal in the presence of 
death, sir. And you, what are you studying 
for? To be one of those who make viaducts, 
railroads, and tunnels ? Ah, then we’ll have 
to call you Your Excellency! You’ll be a 
Minister, and you’ll make me an electoral 
canon, — I mean lectoral. Still, I would make 
a better penitentiary canon, because I am 
awfully penitent. And you, even if you come 
to be more of an engineer than the very one 
who invented engineering, you’ll not get ahead 
like your uncle. Get on ! Ah, your uncle 
knows how ; he is a crafty one. Nobody can 
get the cream out of Don Vicente Sotopena 
as he does. That business of the lots was a 
good slice, and now they are going to hire his 


154 


A CHRISTIAN- WOMAN 


house for the post-office, and pay him a million 
dollars rent. Afterward, when they have 
elections, they’ll come to soft-soap us priests. 
But as a friend of mine, a priest, said to me : 
Gee-up, there, vade retro, exorciso te, for liberal- 
ism is sin, and if anybody doubts it I will 
thrust under his nose the fundamental doc- 
trine of de fide, expounded by the Holy Vati- 
can Council. Our palates here are not spoiled 
by mongrel sauces. Ha, ha, ha ! ” 

“And what do you think about politics?” 
I inquired. 

“About politics? Noble breasts can hold 
but one opinion.” 

“ Let’s hear what opinions noble breasts 
hold.” 

“ Well, I will tell you through the lips of 
one who knew what he was talking about : 
Nequit idem simul esse et non esse. Do you want 
it any clearer? I am not an advocate of 
Iglesia liebre en el Estado galgo (a church 
like a hare in a state like a grey-hound). 
Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus'' 

“Do speak Christian ; or, at least, Galician. 
Are you a good-for-nothing Carlist ? ” 


A CH/ilSTIAN WOMAN. 


155 


''Ego sii7n qiii sum; that is to say: Look 
out for mixtures, discriminations, and jobs. I 
told your Uncle Felipe so very plainly, and 
Don Romdn Aldao, also, who is a great brag- 
gart, and who is sighing for the title of Mar- 
quis of Tejo, or at least for the grand cross. 
They say that his son-in-law will bring it to 
him as a wedding present. Vanitas vanitatis t 
Ha! ha! Carmen’s brother also wants some 
pap ; he wants a fat post in the administration 
of the hospital — I believe that poultices fat- 
ten one like everything.” 

“ Hush, you turn my stomach 1 ” 

“ He’ll not get it, for his brother-in-law dis- 
likes him. He’ll not be able to make porridge 
with linseed flour, nor to put wooden chickens,, 
just for show, in the stews made for the poor 
sick people. Uncle Felipe is a good one ! He’ll 
do. He has no delicacy, not a bit ! Although 
he is going to get married, he still runs after 
Candidifta out in the garden. Don’t you 
believe it ? She is no fool, either ! She al- 
ready knows more than many old women. .Ne 
attendas fallacice ^nulierisT 

“ Don’t slander my uncle, you prurient little 


156 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 

creature,” I exclaimed, with my curiosity ex- 
cited, because I fancied that the simpleton 
sometimes hit the nail on the head. “ Do you 
think he would run after girls in the very sight 
of his lady-love ? ” 

“Yes, yes, you may be sure of it. If you 
could see some other old men, who can hardly 
get around any longer, run after the little mon- 
key ! Vinum et mulieris apostatare faciunt 
■sapientes^ as has been said. Cdndida leads 
them on; and don’t imagine she does it just to 
pass the time. She knows when to throw the 
hook. Carmina will find a stepmother starting 
out from behind a cabbage.” 

I started up in surprise. 

“ But, that Candidina, is she not, — is she not 
a daughter of — ” 

The little acolyte gave a shriek. 

“ Ha, ha, ha ! he thought that — ” (he made 
the gesture of joining the tips of his forefin- 
gers). “ No, man, no ! Neither Cdndida nor 
the other girl are figs from Dofta Andrea’s fig- 
tree. They are her nieces — I knew their 
father, who was a general, I mean a corporal 
of the coast guard. The old woman took 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


157 


charge of them because their parents died. 
And, by my faith, remember that Serafin 
Espina assures you of it, the witch does not 
run after love affairs out of concupiscentia 
carnis. She wants to drag a silk train after 
her. If we live, we are bound to see miracles.’^ 


CHAPTER X. 


We took a sea-bath the following morning; 
we walked about in San Andres, feeling our 
importance, for our presence was an event 
in the little village ; we visited the parochial 
church ; we gathered shells on the beach ; and 
yet were back at Tejo at nine o’clock, ready for 
our chocolate. Father Moreno did not accom- 
pany us ; he preferred to take his bath in the 
afternoon, because he did not like to omit his 
mass. My uncle had not yet made his appear- 
ance, nor would he come until one o’clock in 
the afternoon, our dinner hour ; so Carmen 
was free from the duty of entertaining her 
lover, and had time to devote to me, even 
showing herself affectionate and unreserved. 

“ You retired early last night because you 
felt bored. Really we do not know how to 
ontertain you, and it will be hard for you if 
you do not try to find some amusement for 
yourself in the country.” 

158 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


159 


“ Don’t worry yourself on that account. I 
like the country very much, and I never feel 
bored there. This place is beautiful ; this 
morning I had a splendid bath.” 

And how is my ungrateful friend Benigna? 
How sorry I am that she will not come ! Your 
mother is very agreeable, and I always liked 
her — now with all the more reason.” 

“You see it is not easy to make my mother 
stir. She always has so much to do.” 

After these commonplace remarks my pro- 
spective aunt and I sat like ninnies, without 
knowing what to say. At last she said cour- 
teously and very amiably : 

“ As you brought me such a beautiful pres- 
ent, would you not like to see some of the 
others I have received ? I keep them in a 
room by themselves, because the girls are so 
curious and so fond of meddling. Come this 
way.” 

I followed after her. She carried several 
keys in her pocket, which rattled prettily, with 
a familiar sound, as she walked along. She 
took out the bunch of keys, opened the mys- 
terious door, and pulled back the curtains, dis- 


i6o A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 

playing the splendors of the wedding gifts. 
When I say splendors, it should not be taken 
too literally, because there were plenty of 
articles of provincial make ; and others, though 
they came from Madrid, were not of the finest 
taste — at least so far as I am able to judge of 
those things. The bride-elect went on telling 
me about them all. That black satin dress, 
trimmed with jet, was a present from the 
bridegroom, as were also the pearl ear-rings 
set with diamonds. Papa had squandered 
his money on a rich blue silk brocade *, 
and there, too, were the little hats to corre- 
spond. Another dress seemed very beautiful 
to my uninitiated eyes : it was a dull white silk, 
with a delicate net-work of imitation pearls 
in front, a beautiful train, and two clusters of 
leaves and flowers, placed with exquisite taste. 

This, Carmen said, was a thing without 
utility, a caprice of Senora Sotopefia’s, who had 
been commissioned with the selection of finery 
in Madrid, and who had insisted that the bride 
must have an evening dress. The jewels 
given by the father were some old family 
jewels reset ; there was a splendid brooch, and 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. i6l 

several other things. The Sotopena family 
had sent her an elegant fan, representing For- 
tuny’s “ Vicarage,” and with shell sticks. Her 
brother had given her an ordinary-looking 
bracelet. Then followed a collection of jewel- 
cases, albums, useless articles, — the thousand 
and one trifles, as ordinary as they are worth- 
less, which are only bought and sold on the 
pretext of giving a present on the occasion of 
a wedding or birthday. Behind them all, in 
one corner, as though ashamed of itself, was a 
most singular object — an enormous rat-trap. 

“ Why, who gave you that ? ” I asked, with- 
out being able to restrain my laughter. 

Who else could it be but Serafin,” she re- 
plied, joining in my mirth. 

“ Is it possible ! ” 

“Yes; and he felt so proud of it. I wish 
you could have seen him holding his rat-trap 
on high, exclaiming : 

“ ‘ This, at least, will be useful ! ' ” 

“ But about that Serafin,— is he crazy, fool- 
ish, or what is he ? ” 

“ In my opinion, he has not got over being a 
child. He has not a bad heart, and sometimes 


i 62 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


makes bright remarks. But a moment after* 
ward he’ll fly off on a tangent, and say all sorts 
of silly things. Sometimes, for example, he 
will make a sound observation regarding some 
point of theology or morality, — I know it is 
so because Father Moreno says so, — and 
again he is exceedingly stupid about the 
simplest facts. Once we gave him some can* 
die snuffers, telling him to snuff a candle, and 
he took them, looked at them attentively, wet 
his fingers in his mouth, snuffed the candle 
with his fingers, and then, opening the 
snuffers, put the bit of wick inside, saying 
proudly : ‘ I can see very well how you work, 
little box ! ’ ” 

We were still laughing at this anecdote 
when we went out into the garden. My 
prospective aunt showed me the outbuildings, 
the hen house, the stables, and the orchard, 
inviting me to taste the fruit of the sweet 
cherry, to pick some flowers, and to try the 
swing and the trapeze. 

Father Moreno made his appearance in the 
garden, calm, communicative, and even jocose. 
He questioned me about certain people who 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 163 

preferred to take a dip rather than attend mass 
celebrated by a friar; about Serafin, who 
could not be found to do service as acolyte ; 
iibout our triumphal excursion through San 
Andres. Sefior Aldao also was not long in 
presenting himself. He was brushed and 
waxed, his mustaches dyed, and his cranium 
glistening like a billiard-ball ; but he looked to 
me like a wreck, under the green shade of his 
opened umbrella. He asked me if I “ had 
seen it all,” with the air qf a Medici inquiring 
whether a foreigner has visited his palaces and 
galleries. Then he added : 

“ What do you think of the yew — the 
famous yew-tree ? ” 

Ah, it is magnificent, wonderful ! ” 

An English naval officer was here last year 
who admired it enthusiastically and wanted to 
photograph it. He carried away more than 
ten different views. Don Vicente Sotopena 
assures me that Castelar, in his speech at the 
Literary Contest, praised the yew very highly 
when speaking of the marvelous beauties of 
Galicia. Castelar is a great orator, hey ? 
Flowery, — above all things flowery.” 


1 64 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 

Senor Aldao appeared to me like one of 
those men who carry their vanity (somewhat 
concealed in other men) outside and entirely 
visible to everybody. I afterward found out 
that he had always been vain, and founded his 
vanity on the most hollow and superficial 
things. When a young man he prided himself 
on his dandyfied appearance, his waxed mus- 
taches, and eyebrows drawn out straight. 
Afterward he was seized with the nobility fever, 
and on all occasions wore his uniform as an 
officer in the militia, dreaming about fhe mar- 
quisate of Tejo. He made a sort of platonic 
love to the said marquisate, attaching himself 
closely to the civil governors when he desired a 
title from Castile, and to the bishops when he 
wanted it to be palatine. However, his desire 
for vulgar display was never gratified. An old 
man now, the extraordinary power Don Vi- 
cente wielded, and his absolute control over 
the province and a great part of Galicia, had 
made Senor Aldao comprehend that social 
rank, in our times, is not founded on parch- 
ments, more or less musty. “Nowadays poli- 
tics absorb everything,’' he used to say. “The 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 165 

man who can give away sugar-plums with one 
hand, while he wields the lash with the other, 
is the real celebrity.” That was one reason 
why he had received my uncle’s matrimonial 
proposals with so much favor. He saw in 
them the handle whereby he might fasten on 
to the great Galician boss’s coat-tails, and thus 
gratify a multitude of miserable ambitions he 
had preserved for years, and which were get- 
ting sour, viz., that about the cross ; the rous- 
ing up of a bill for a carriage -road, which was 
sleeping the sleep of the just ; and I don’t 
know what other trifles in connection with the 
Provincial Legislature and contracts. 

No matter how much we may search the 
depths of the human heart, we never succeed 
in disentangling the cause of certain hidden 
feelings. Envy, competition, and emulation 
demand, it would seem, something like equal- 
ity, and one cannot understand how those bad 
passions are developed when not the slightest 
equality exists between the envious one and 
the man he envies. Can a soprano who sings 
in comic opera envy Patti, or a simple lady of 
the middle class, the queen } Well, they do. 


i66 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


without any doubt, and from the obscuritjr 
wherein they dwell they try to cast a feeble 
ray of light which will compete with that of 
the star. 

In the same way, Don Romdn Aldao, a 
small, provincial gentleman, who enjoyed only 
a moderate income, indulged himself at times 
in impulses to compete with Don Vicente 
Sotopena, the renowned politician, the shining 
light of the law, the famous chief, the great 
boss of Galicia, the lawyer overrun with suc- 
culent cases, the millionaire, the man of great 
and universal influence. 

And in what particular did he want to 
eclipse Sotopena ? Why, in the matter of 
their respective country seats. Don Vicente 
owned a sort of royal estate near Pontevedra, 
where he could rest from his labors and enjoy 
his leisure hours ; and whenever Senor Aldaa 
heard any one speak of his magnificent villa, 
of his orange orchard, of his grove of eucalyp- 
tus trees, of his marble statues, and of the 
other beauties which were’ displayed at Na- 
ranjaly his face would wear a scowl, his lips 
would be compressed in mortified pride, and 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 167 

he would ask the people with whom he was 
speaking : 

“What do you think of the tree, my yew ? 
An English naval officer praised it most enthu- 
siastically and wanted to take views of it,” etc. 

It was a fancy of Don Roman’s, never to be 
realized, that he could beautify his estate in 
imitation of Naranjal. Nature was an accom- 
plice in his dream, however, for, besides the 
gigantic yew-tree which she had created, she 
spread around it all the charms which she is 
accustomed to display in that corner of para- 
dise which is called Rias Bajas, The sun, the 
ocean, the sky, the climate, the beach, the 
vegetation of a district so luxuriant, formed 
an oasis of Tejo, though it could not com- 
pete with Naranjal in what depended on the 
work of man. Art may make a great show in 
the country, but the highest charm of a country 
seat depends on Nature. But our Don Roman 
did not understand this. He did not appre- 
ciate the ineffable sweetness and repose of the 
country, which causes a man to forget the 
pleasures of social life. On the contrary, he 
longed for the bustle, the style, the glories 


i68 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


and pomps of a proprietor and local magnate^ 
and felt, above all, the urgings of his vanity, 
which was so absurd, because so impotent. 
Of course, Aldao did not attempt to copy 
splendors like those of the famous chapel of 
stalactites, so, highly praised by newspaper 
writers and tourists. But if, for example, they 
set up at Naranjal a spacious breakfast room, 
in an arbor covered with jasmine-vines, imme- 
diately Don Romdn would fall to planning 
a rickety place, covered with honeysuckle, 
wherein they might take their chocolate. 
Was there fine statuary at Naranjal? Out 
Don Roman Aldao would come with his plas- 
ter busts, his “ Four Seasons,” or his group of 
“ Cupids,” and would place them in the mid- 
dle of a meadow or an espalier. If they intro- 
duced a conservatory at Naranjal, with a fine 
collection of ferns and orchids, immediately 
after Don Romdn would repair to Ponteve- 
dra, and purchase all the worn-out window- 
frames he could find, in order to fit up a cheap 
hot-house, filled with stiff • and insufferable 
begonias. Did they have rustic tables and 
seats brought from Switzerland at Naranjal? 


‘ A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 169 

Senor Aldao would show the village carpenter 
how to saw pine cones in two, and with the 
trunks of the pine trees would make rustic 
seats and all kinds of furniture. And, to 
crown all, there was the yew-tree ! 

On the first day of my stay at Tejo some 
people came from Pontevedra to dine : Senor 
Aldao’s oldest son, Luciano, with his child, a 
boy about four years old, and a provincial 
^deputy named Castro Mera, who was my uncle’s 
greatest friend at that time, and head of the 
clique which represented his political views 
in the bosom of the Pontevedra Assembly. 
Everything is relative, and in Pontevedra there 
were not only my uncle’s henchmen but his 
own public policy, directed by the strict prin- 
ciples which the reader will imagine. 

The editor of El Teucrense was also there. 
That petty sheet was a devoted supporter of 
my uncle at that time, although it used to 
abuse him soundly six months before ; but 
there are magical sops to throw to such Cer- 
beruses. They talked a great deal about local 
politics, which were so small that they were 
fairly microscopic. 


170 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN,. 

We took our coffee in the Tejo and I gazed 
attentively at that respectable patriarch of the 
vegetable world which was destined to play 
a certain part in my life. The enormous, 
rugged trunk fantastically covered with moss, 
with its bark alive and sound in spite of age, 
easily supported the majestic branches of the 
giant of the Ria^ as it was' styled in poetic par- 
lance by the writers and correspondents of the 
Madrid journals when they came to pass the 
summer there. The manner in which it grew 
and spread its foliage of an intensely dark 
green had something of biblical impressiveness. 
It was impossible to look at the yew tree 
without profound veneration, as a symbol of 
exuberant and maternal nature which had 
brought forth such a sovereign organism. 

The ocean, enamored of the beauty of Galicia, 
embraces her lovingly with its waves, kisses 
and fondles her with its spray, surrounds her, 
caresses her, and extends toward her a blue 
hand eager to press the soft roundness of the 
coast. The spreading fingers of this hand are 
the Rias. There the air is purer, softer, and 
more fragrant, while the vegetation is more 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN ijl 

southern and luxuriant. That Tejo, king of all 
other trees, only on the border of a Ria, and 
on land enriched by its waters, could spread 
itself with such lordly pride. It was the real 
monument of that region. It gave a name to 
the country seat ; it served as a landmark to 
the boatmen and fishermen when in doubt how 
to find their way back to San Andres. From its 
lofty summit one could overlook the surround- 
ing country, and see not only the hamlets 
on the seashore, but also the group of islands^ 
the famous Casiterides of the ancient geog- 
raphers, and the boundless extent of a sea 
almost Grecian in its quiet beauty. 

In order to build the three balconies, one 
above another, which adorned it, neither great 
architectural science nor unusual skill were 
needed. All they had to do was to take 
advantage of the splendid horizontal position 
of its branches, and build on that strong 
foundation some circular platforms, guarded 
by a light balustrade, running around them. 

The winding staircase found a natural sup- 
port in the very trunk of the giant. Its foliage 
was so dense that no one, from the ground, 


172 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


could see those who were taking coffee or re- 
freshments in the second story, nor those who 
were dancing in the first, while the person 
who climbed to the third had to come to the 
front of the balcony in order to be seen. 

Each story had its name. The first was the 
ball-room, the second the supper-room, and 
the third, “ Bellavista.” 

At Aldao’s you would often hear some one 
say : “ Did you go up to Bellavista this morn- 
ing?” “ No, I went no further than the ball- 
room.” 

To tell the truth, even if Senor Aldao should 
be displeased by it, the ball-room was not very 
spacious. However, it was large enough to 
enable them to dance a contra-dance there 
very comfortably, to the sound of the piano, 
which was brought out into the garden on such 
festive occasions. And it was quite charming 
to dance under its green awning, between its 
green walls, which hardly allowed the sunlight 
to flicker through. The platform used to 
shake a great deal, and so the exercise was 
dancing and swinging at the same time. 


CHAPTER XI. 


That day, when we climbed up in the sup- 
per-room to take our coffee, where they had 
already placed a number of chairs, benches, 
and rustic tables, the yew was more attractive 
than ever. A fresh breeze coming up from 
the estuary made the branches gently sway ; 
the sun, striking full on the tree’s top, gilded 
it, and drew out that penetrating, somewhat 
resinous odor, which increases in our hearts 
the rapture of life. The height at which we 
found ourselves suspended might indeed make 
us fancy that. we were birds ; to me, it seemed 
that the birds would have a pleasant abode in 
the bosom of that colossus ; and suddenly, as 
if nature took pleasure in inspiring me with 
one of those desires, impossible to gratify, with 
which she makes sport of mortals, I felt a 
desire, or, rather, an eager longing to fly, to 
lose myself in those blue spaces, pure and 
173 


174 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


unfathomable, which we could see through 
the openings in the branches. When I per- 
ceived that I was envying the sea-gulls, which, 
far off, were swooping down upon the cliffs of 
San Andres, I took myself to task for my 
folly, and, making an effort, I gave my atten- 
tion to the conversation. 

As usual. Father Moreno had the lead, and 
was once more assuring his hearers that he 
always felt better in Morocco than in Spain, 
better among the Moors than among the 
Christians, of the kind they had there." 

‘‘ Don’t think," he hastened to add, “ that 
we friars have an easy time in Africa. If I 
did feel more contented there, it was because 
those poor people do their best to serve one, 
and treat him with great consideration. I 
learned the Arabic, if not as well as my 
brother. Father Lerchundi, at least enough to 
make myself understood. If you only knew 
how useful it was to me ! Our garb recom- 
mends us to those poor creatures. They call 
us in their language saints and wise men — 
precisely as is done here ! " 

“You could not say more clearly that you 


A CHmSTIAN WOMAN. 175 

would like to become a Moor/’ observed Don 
Romdn. 

I was a Moor,” said the friar, vivaciously. 

That is,” he added, modifying his assertion, 
“ as you will understand, I did not become a 
Mohammedan ; and I didn’t say Mohammedan 
or a follower of Mohammed, but Moor, which 
means a son of Africa, an inhabitant of Mo- 
rocco.” 

“ Of course, we know that you did not re- 
nounce your faith,” exclaimed my prospective 
aunt, in the tone of gentle and affectionate 
jesting which she always adopted in addressing 
the father. 

“ No, my child, I did not renounce my re- 
ligion ; thanks to divine compassion, I did not 
go so far.” 

“But tell us in what way you were a Moor.” 

“ Oh, goodness ! Why, it scarcely needs to 
be told, — and it’s a very long story. It went 
the rounds of the papers ; the Revista Popular 
of Barcelona had an article about it.” 

“ Oh, do tell us I ” 

The friar was well pleased to do soj to judge 
by the complacency with which he commenced 


17 ^ A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

his tale. He first took out his handkerchief 
from his sleeve, and wiped from his lips the 
liquor he had just been drinking. 

“Well, you see it was a little while before 
the Restoration, when politics were in a bad 
way here, and Spain was all stirred up by the 
Republic. I was then in Tangiers, feeling 
very happy, because, as I have told you, I am 
very fond of Africa. But' we have taken a 
vow of obedience, and suddenly I received the 
disagreeable order to leave for Spain, to go to 
Madrid itself, and it was not possible for me to 
wear my habit ; fine times for habits those 
were ! ‘ Listen, Moreno,’ said I to myself, ‘ it 

is time to cast off your friar’s garb and be- 
come a fine little gentleman.’ You know that 
they allow us to let our beards grow while we 
are in Africa, and that is a great aid in disguis- 
ing a friar, because one of the things which 
betrays a priest dressed as a layman is his 
smooth face. The tonsure we were not very 
careful to shave, so all I had to do was to let 
my hair grow for a few days before the jour- 
ney, and get it even with, the rest, and there I 
was. I ordered my clothes from the best 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 17T 

tailor there. And the accessories, — because a 
gentleman’s attire has a thousand accessories, — 
of those the ladies of my circle of acquaint- 
ance insisted on taking charge, particularly 
the ladies in the English Consul’s family. 
These ladies 4iked me very much, and under- 
stood all about the elegancies of the toilette 
and how a gentleman fixes himself up. They 
got me silk embroidered stockings, neckties, 
ruffled shirts, and even handkerchiefs marked 
with my initials. But they especially wanted 
to see me with all my finery on. ‘ Father Mo- 
reno, after you are dressed you must come and 
show us.’ ‘ Father Moreno, we must give you 
the last touch, or you’ll go away looking like a 
scarecrow.’ 'Father Moreno, don’t deprive 
us of that pleasure.’ But I was obstinate. 
'Am I a monkey to show off my tricks? No, 
indeed, nobody shall laugh at me. You shall 
not see me dressed up. If you like that, well 
and good ; but if you don’t, we’ll no longer be 
friends.’ The day arrived, and I decked niy- 
self out, head to foot ; not the slightest detail 
was lacking — not even sleeve-buttons, for they 
had made me a present of some. I dressed at. 


178 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

the convent, and went through the most 
retired streets to take a boat which was to 
put me on board. Well, will you believe it ? 
In spite of all that, those ladies made out to 
see me ! When they heard that the steamer 
was going to weigh anchor, they stationed 
themselves on their balconies, well provided 
with spy-glasses, and while I was taking my 
ease on the bridge, they all looked at me as 
much as they chose. They say that I seemed 
like another man to them. I should say so 1 
I carried a cloak, had my traveling-bag, wore 
my hat on one side, and had two-buttoned 
gloves on my hands.” 

There was a burst of laughter among his 
hearers, as they imagined how Father Moreno 
must have looked in such elegant attire. 

“ And afterward, what happened then ? 
asked Carmen, greatly interested. 

“ I landed in Gibraltar — what a fury I was in 
to see the English flag floating there ! From 
that place I took ship again for Malaga. 
Nothing of much account happened except 
that I met two English Catholic priests, and 
conversed with them in Latin — because I 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. I79 

knew no English — about the great strides 
Catholicism was making in England. F'rom 
Malaga I went to Granada. To tell the truth^ 

I was very anxious to see that beautiful city, 
so celebrated all over the world, and to visit 
the Alhambra and the Generalife. As soon 
as I went out in the street, what did I do 
but meet a friend of mine, a judge whom I had 
known in the Canary Isles! He looked at me 
in amazement, doubting the evidence of his 
senses. I addressed him, and he finally recog- 
nized me. I explained matters to him, he 
invited me to take coffee, and we agreed to 
meet the following day to go to see the Alham- 
bra in company with some friends of his at the 
hotel. I begged him not to tell them that I 
was a friar. He promised that he would not, 
and was better than his word, as you shall see. 
In fact, when we met the next day he brought 
with him two army officers, two medical stu- 
dents, and a priest ; and as soon as he saw 
me, he began to shout, feigning great surprise, 
'Hello, Aben Jusuf, you here! By Jove, 
who could think of meeting you at such a 
place and at such an hour! ’ I replied, compre-v^ 


j8o a CHI^ISTIAN WOMAN’. 

hending his object, ‘ By Allah, when I left 
Morocco I did not expect to enjoy the pleas- 
ure of seeing you.’ His companions, already 
excited, whispered to my friend : ‘ Why, is 

this gentleman really a Moor ? ’ My friend, in 
order not to tell a barefaced falsehood, replied : 
‘ You might know that by his name. I called 
him Aben Jusuf.’ ‘And is he a friend of 
yours?’ ‘Yes, I met him in the Canary Isles, 
when I went to take sea-baths.’ ‘ I say, just 
invite him to come with us to visit the Alham- 
bra, to see what he’ll say.’ ‘Agreed.’ I ac- 
cepted the invitation, of course, seeing I had 
already done so the night before. My friend, 
drawing near me, held out his hand, and said : 
‘Aben Jusuf, I would ask you to come with us 
to visit the Alhambra, but I am afraid of 
arousing your unpleasant feelings.’ I replied 
that it must be, indeed, unpleasant for a son of 
the desert to visit the monuments erected by 
his forefathers, which they no longer possess, 
but that, in order not to incommode him and 
those gentlemen, I would willingly accompany 
them.” 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. i8l 

** Did they keep on thinking that you were 
a Moor ? ” inquired Senor Aldao. 

“Of course. And such a Moor; a Moor 
of the Moors ! I played my part with all 
seriousness. . I overheard one of them say to 
the others, ‘ He looks like all of his race.’ 
At every door, every window, and every court, 
I would stop as though sad and depressed, 
uttering broken phrases, like groans of pain ; 
in short, just as I imagined a Moor might ex- 
press his feelings there. Once I stroked my 
beard ” 

“ Oh, Father Moreno, how I would have 
liked to see you with a beard ! ” cried Carmen. 

^'■Naranjas ! It is true, you have not seen 
me ! ” exclaimed the friar, breaking off the 
thread of his discourse. “ Wait, my girl, I 
think I must have it here.” Reaching up his 
sleeve, he brought out an old pocket-book, and 
took from it a card-photograph, which in a’ 
moment went the rounds of the crowded 
gathering in the second story of the tree. 
The women uttered exclamations of admira- 
tion and Candidina cried mischievously, 
“ How handsome you were, Father Moreno ! 


i 82 a CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 

I could not help thinking to myself that he 
really was handsome. His long hair and 
heavy beard brought out more forcibly the 
friar’s manly appearance. 

“ Well, I stroked that big beard that you 
see there, and exclaimed seriously, ^ If Spain 
goes on in the road she has been traveling for 
a few years past, Allah will again lead Arabian 
horsemen to these plains, which they still 
recall in their homes in the desert.’ Then 
turning to those present, without looking at 
my friend, who was desperately striving not 
to laugh, I resumed : ^ Pardon, gentlemen, a 
son of the desert ; these opinions have escaped 
me without my being able to prevent it.’ You 
should have seen these men, charmed with my 
outburst. ^ No, no, it is all very well. Hurrah 
for the agreeable Moors ! ’ they cried, with 
other sayings of the same nature. But my 
trouble began when they commenced to ques- 
tion me about what they supposed was my 
religion, and the customs of my alleged 
country. One inquired whether it was true 
that the laws of Mohammed authorized having 
many wives. Then another, a cavalry officer, 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 185 

burst out, ‘ By Jove, that is the best thing in 
the laws of Mohammed.’” 

This part of the story caused a great sensa- 
tion. My uncle frowned. Senor Aldao com- 
pressed his waist ; Serafin hiccoughed ; Car- 
men laughed heartily, and I joined in. 

“ How did you get out of the scrape. Father 
Moreno ? Let us hear it, for that must be 
entertaining.” 

“ Listen,” said the friar, when the merriment 
had a little subsided. “ I became serious, 
without any appearance of having taken 
offense, and said in a natural tone : ‘ Gentle- 
men, although they caTl us barbarians and 
fanatics, we know how to acknowledge the 
defects of our legislation. I have traveled a 
great deal, and have studied the inner consti- 
tution of many different forms of society, and 
I assure you that nothing charms me more 
than a family consisting of one man and one 
woman, who have vowed to love ench other 
and to protect the fruit of their love. Neither 
the heart of man, nor the quiet and security 
of the family, nor the dignity of woman, can 
be excilted and strengthened by polygamy. 


184 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

Not even sensual passions are satisfied, for, 
as you know, sensuality is a sort of moral 
dropsy, which finally engenders tedium and 
disgust.’ ” 

“ Bravo, Father Moreno ! ” 

Excellent, and what did they reply ? ” 

“ They remained dumbfounded and abashed 
to hear me express myself in that way. The 
officer looked at me, his mouth stretched from 
oar to ear, and what do you think he burst 
forth with, the rogue, as soon as he recovered 
his equanimity? He faced me, and said very 
politely: ‘And you, Aben Jusuf, how many 
wives have you ? ’ ” 

His hearers again gave free rein to their 
laughter. 

“ What a joke ! ” 

“Ah, he hit the mark.” 

“ And what did you reply ? ” 

“ The truth is, I was slightly confused at 
first, but ^an idea came to me like a flash, and 
you’ll see how I .parried his thrust. ‘ That 
gentleman knows my tastes,’ I said, pointing 
to my friend ; ‘ I am a man who does not care 
to sacrifice his fondness for travel and his 


A CIIKISTIAiV WOMAN'. ' 185 

independence, to the duty of sustaining a wife 
and family. I want to be free as a bird, and 
for that reason I long ago resolved never to 
marry.’ ” 

“Were they satisfied with your reply? 
Didn’t they ask more questions?” 

“ Not on that subject,” said the friar. 

“ The conversation no longer turned upon 
women. They talked about politics, and 
there my road was still more unobstructed. 
The medical students and the two officers, 
who were more liberal than Riego himself, 
began to praise the beneficial results of the 
revolution. Then I answered that perhaps I, 
being a Moor, had a different conception of 
liberty from theirs. ‘ Pardon me, for I am a 
stranger here, and explain to me how it hap- 
pens that although you have so much liberty 
for all the world, here, you will not allow some 
men, whom we esteem greatly over yonder — 
a kind of Christian saints, who wear gray 
tunics and have no shoes on their feet, and are 
called — are called — ’ ‘ Friars ! ’ the officer 
shouted. ‘ Nice scamps they are ! If they are 
among the Moors, let them stay there!* 


1 86 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

Without paying any attention to him, I went 
on : ‘ They are greatly respected in Morocco, 
and they help to inspire us with love for this 
land, which we regard as our other country. 
I am amazed that here (according to your 
history, which I have read because I am fond 
of reading) they barbarously massacred a 
number of them in the year 1834 in Madrid, 
and in 1835 in Vich, Zaragoza, Barcelona, and 
Valencia, burning their convents. Am I mis- 
taken, or was it so ? We don’t do so in 
Morocco to inoffensive people devoted to 
praying and fasting.’ They kept as still as 
the grave. One nudged the other, and I 
heard him say, ‘ See how well-informed he is.’ 
* He has squelched us ! ’ replied the other. 
That was what he said, ‘ squelched.’ ” 

“ Well, what was the final result of your 
Moorish escapade } ” 

“Bah! You can fancy how it ended. On 
our return to Granada, while going through 
the winding streets, near my hotel, I suddenly 
turned toward them, and said with great seri- 
ousness : ‘ Gentlemen, all that about my being 
-a Moor was a joke. I am only a poor Fran- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


187 


ciscan friar, who, thanks to the liberty which 
reigns in Spain, has been obliged to disguise 
himself in order to revisit his native land. I 
now salute you in my true character.’ I then 
turned and went off, leaving them more aston- 
ished than ever.” 

The friar’s adventures, told with spirit and 
grace, made us wish to learn the outcome of 
his journey. Father Moreno then went on to 
tell about his stay at the baths of Lanjardn 
his discussion with an impudent, saucy-tongued 
young gentleman, ' whom he silenced at the 
table d'hote^ leaving him as quiet as a mouse ; 
of his trip to Madrid in a second-class car, al- 
wa:ys playing the part of a Moor, and availing 
himself of his foreign dress to censure the 
abuses of the time in Spain. ‘‘As those were 
remarks made by. a Moor,” observed the 
father, “ they did not take offense, but were 
even impressed by my assertions. If they had 
discovered that I was a friar, they would have 
sent me off flying. In fact, I felt immensely^ 
dissatisfied not to be able to cry out, ‘ Friar I 
am, friar I shall be, and friar I shall die, God 
Avilling ! ’ But as I was not going to Madrid 


i88 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


to enjoy myself, but because I had been sent 
there, I had to champ the bit and play the 
Moor. So well did I do it, that I never once 
betrayed myself by making any movement 
peculiar to a friar. I never searched for my 
handkerchief in my sleeve, but in the left 
pocket of my cloak. It even, seems to me that 
my Moorish appearance and my great beard 
gave those gentlemen a bit of apprehension, 
so that they didn’t like the idea of getting into 
a quarrel with Aben Jusuf.” 

It was already getting dark when we left the 
supper-room. Carmen was full of animation, 
commenting so gayly on the father’s story 
that a suspicion flashed through my mind re- 
garding the Abencerrage with a friar’s gown. 
I tried to dismiss it from my thoughts, but, 
finally, giving form to the fancies which stirred 
in my brain, I came to the conclusion, “ It 
can’t be with the father that she is in love — 
but as for my uncle, she isn’t with him either.” 


CHAPTER XII. 


That conviction took possession of me, and 
I do not know whether it was pleasant or pain- 
ful. I know that it caused a kind of revolu- 
tion in me, renewing the feeling of unconquer- 
able aversion with which my uncle inspired me, 
and strengthening it by all the lack of affection 
I thought I perceived in his future wife. At 
the same time I would ask myself with eager 
curiosity, “ Why does she marry him ?” 

Three or four days sufficed to convince me 
that only my mother’s passionate hatred could 
insinuate that Carmen was not well treated at 
home. Dona Andrea scarcely had any part 
there, if it were not as an old family house- 
keeper, versed in domestic management, and a 
slave to her work. I believe that the only 
privilege Dona Andrea enjoyed, in her capacity 
as retired mistress, was to holdr-^intercourse 
oftener than was seemly with the wine bottle 
or the demijohn of brandy. As for the rest, 
189 


190 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


she always used to address Senorita Aldao 
with great affection, and the latter, in her 
turn, used to treat the old servant with indul- 
gence and consideration. Dona Andrea never 
emerged from her own sphere of housekeeper, 
and did not make her appearance in the par- 
lor, or make any pretensions incompatible 
with her position. The only person out of her 
place there was Candidina. She was neither a 
young lady fit to associate with the daughter 
of Don Romdn Aldao, nor a scullion devoted 
to her pots and kettles ; she was a little of 
each, and her presence and ambiguous posi- 
tion, admitted to the drawing-room but ex- 
cluded from the table, were not easily to be 
explained. Her younger sister, more humble, 
occupied a very different position, though no 
reason appeared for the distinction. Anyhgw, 
it was evident that my uncle’s sweetheart did 
not live like a Cinderella, and that in getting 
married she was not simply obeying the desire 
to emancipate herself, to rule over her own 
household, which so often influences single 
women to accept the first man who offers 
himself. 


A CHAVSTIAN- IVOMAJV, 19 1 

What was the reason then ? It was most 
probably due to the comfortable circumstances 
and well-assured prospects for the future which 
my uncle enjoyed. It could not be for any 
other cause. She had doubtless decided to 
marry him, if not purely for self-interest, at 
least because it was not advisable to disdain 
such an advantageous match. In that case, 
although Sefiorita Aldao’s conduct did not 
appear to be delicate or high-minded, neverthe- 
less it was not rightly open to censure. 

On the other hand, though I was convinced 
that this was the real motive of Carmen’s 
action, I noticed in her, while I observed her 
daily in the intimacy and familiarity produced 
by the country life, our near relationship, and 
the similarity of our ages, something which 
was contradictory to the practical and reason- 
able procedure I was attributing to her. Car- 
men displayed touches of vehemence and 
feeling which proved that she was naturally 
passionate. Sometimes her eyes would flash 
fire, her nostrils dilate, and a singular strength 
of will show itself in that dreamy face, with its 
ascetic lines. I fancied that under the surface 


192 


A CHJilSTIAN WOMAN. 


there must be hidden fire, and a good deal 
of it. 

As I am not a novelist, I am not compelled 
to make skillful transitions ; and as I am not a 
hypocrite either, I shall mention one fact 
which I do not ’know whether any observer or 
moralist has ever spoken of so frankly. It is 
that the first glance a man gives a woman, 
when he is young and prone to love, as I was,' 
is almost always an inquiring look, somewhat 
loving also, — a look which asks, “ Could that 
woman love me ? What would happen if she 
did ?” This is not an affectation of cynicism, 
nor do I make out human nature worse than 
God created it ; but it only indicates that the 
sexual instinct, like all other instincts, never 
rests, although reason may repress it. If I 
had felt affection and respect for my uncle, I 
would have silenced that confused murmur of 
instinct at once. But I did not; my uncle 
irritated me, and roused my whole soul secretly 
against him ; and so, when I fancied that I 
perceived in his lady-love the germs of a simi- 
lar feeling, I felt drawn toward her by a 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


193 


fellowship of mind which was right on the 
road to love. 

Without a moment’s doubt, without feeling 
surprised at the thing in the least, and without 
hesitating for a moment in confessing it to 
myself, — always an easier confession than an 
auricular one, — I desired and determined to in- 
gratiate myself with my future aunt, if pos- 
sible. The temptation took hold of me with 
the greater ease because, as the wedding had 
not yet taken place, I was spared that brief 
inward struggle and that misgiving, which are 
aroused when it is a case of another man’s 
wife. 

To tell the exact truth, I did not purpose to 
win her for myself or even to displace her 
lover. I was not capable of plotting in cold 
blood what Luis Portal called a family drama. 
All that I aspired to do was to discover whether 
my surmises in regard to Carmen’s inward 
shrinking from him were true, and whether 
she could treat me with indulgent kindness. 
I sincerely believed that if I were to succeed in 
that, my uneasiness would be soothed and 
would vanish. 


/ / 


194 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


Our manner of life at Tejo was conducive 
to intimacy. When we returned from bathing, 
we would take our breakfast whenever and 
wherever we desired ; a liberty highly favor- 
able to meetings with Carmen in agreeable 
isolation, in the orchard or in the garden. It 
cost me a great effort to get rid of the acolyte 
in order to carry out my plans, for he was fond 
of me, and stuck to me like a burr. While he 
was reading the papers, or playing checkers 
with Don Roman, or picking cherries and 
strawberries with Candidina, I would steal off 
in search of Carmen. I would generally meet 
her coming out from the chapel, where she 
had been to hear Father Moreno say mass. 

As soon as I approached I would offer her 
some flowers, and begin to chat. We talked 
on the subjects usually chosen for conversation 
with an unmarried girl ; whether Pontevedra 
was lively, about the Virgin’s festival, about 
the balls at the Casino, about walks, about 
how they passed fhe winter there, about her 
friends, love affairs and engagements, and 
other such insipid subjects, fitted, in my 
opinion, to lead up to some gallant speech. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 195 

I found occasion to compliment her slyly, 
telling her how becoming her dress was, prais- 
ing her hair, asking her to lean on my arm, 
while we walked around, assuring her that such 
a grateful pressure would not tire me. 

She never put on a face of indignant virtue 
at my endeavors to ingratiate myself with her. 
She received my compliments with a careless, 
mischievous smile, as much as to say: “Very 
well ; we understand each other ; my future 
nephew is very agreeable.” 

She would lean on my arm in accordance 

with my request, without the slightest hesita- 

/ 

tion and with decorous cordiality. One day, 
when I affected a slightly melancholy air, in 
order to change my tune, she thought I was ill 
and proposed to take care of me, offering me 
all sorts of remedies for the body, while I 
pretended to desire a moral cure. In fact, I 
could not find an open breach, whereby to 
.attack that little heart. 

I observed her conduct toward my uncle. 
While she treated me, after we were once ac- 
quainted, with gay cordiality, her deportment 
toward her lover was polite and correct, at the 


196 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

same time that it was submissive and attentive. 
It might be considered the result of bashful- 
ness or modesty by the unitiated, but to me, 
viewed in the sinister light which was in my 
mind, it seemed the unmistakable symptom of 
absolute coldness. 

When I fancied that I had made this dis- 
covery, I experienced a mysterious feeling of 
sympathy with the poor girl. If she really felt 
the same aversion toward my uncle that I did, 
what stronger mental tie could bind us than 
that ? The bridegroom is repugnant to the 
bride. Perhaps she is unaware of it, but it is 
so. It is evident ; and that proves her good 
taste and moral delicacy. I said so all along.’' 
Then the same old question would arise, 
“ Why, then, does she marry him ? ” 

While I was propounding this enigma ta 
myself, I did not neglect to ingratiate myself 
with Carmen. I fancied that all I needed to 
carry out my plan was time. It lacked but a 
few days of the date set for the wedding, and 
evidently, in order to obtain if not the affec- 
tion, at least the friendship and entire confi- 
dence of that young lady, it was necessary to 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


197 


see her frequently, so that every hour might 
bring forth its fruit little by little ; as the dried 
and withered leaves of the Jericho rose unfold 
Avhen the stalk is moistened with water. “ Of 
course,” I would say to myself, when I saw her 
so amiable but so reserved in all matters of the 
heart, “ this girl is not going to intrust me 
with the key to the treasure all at once. It 
will not be an easy matter to find out from her 
own lips why she has accepted my uncle.” 

Meanwhile, I was very attentive to her, joked 
with her, and tried to gain a few inches of 
ground. My first attempt at a joke was to call 
her auntie. At first she did not relish my con- 
ceit, but finally she made up her mind to join 
in the joke and to call me nephew. As soon as 
I heard her pronounce that name, which implied 
a certain familiarity, I returned to the charge, 
and asked her permission to call her Auntie 
Carmen. These two names, the first rather 
childish, and still more the second, with its 
aroma of youth and beauty, appeared charming 
to me, and henceforth I fastened them upon 
Senorita Aldao, whom I never called by any 
other name during tlie rest of my life. 


198 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

There was a time when I imagined that 
Auntie Carmen had entered on that stage in 
which, deliberately or unconsciously, we reflect 
some of the feelings of others, and through 
sympathy share the pangs they suffer. 

It was one afternoon when my uncle was in 
Pontevedra, managing and playing the scale 
of small politics, which he declared that he 
understood so well. In order to amuse us, 
Don Romdn proposed to go fishing for sun- 
fish in the tranquil waters of the estuary. 
This was usually done on pleasant days, let- 
ting the boat float along very slowly, and 
throwing out the hooks baited with bits of 
meat or earth-worms. It is really a pleasant 
excursion on the water, at the most enjoyable 
hour of the day, for the country. We all went 
in one launch. Auntie, who was seated at my 
side, kept joking me because my line never 
felt the sharp nibble of the fish, while hers was 
incessantly on the stretch, catching sunfish 
and some other kinds of small fry. I pro- 
posed to change rods, and she consented, but 
the fish were not to be deceived, and still 
slighted me. I took advantage of the fact 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 199 

that Candidina was quarreling with Serafin, 
and that Father Moreno, of whose acuteness 
I was afraid, was amusing himself with the 
fishing like a boy and seemed unobservant, 
and ventured to say something very sweet to 
my auntie. She replied, smiling at me with a 
look I cannot define; except by saying that it 
seemed a mingling of brightness and innocent 
archness. If that was mocking, it was mock- 
ing coated with honey, adorned with roses, 
and seasoned with affectionate mirth. 

Suddenly it seemed to me that her glorious 
eyes were overshadowed by deep sadness, 
and that a sigh came from that breast — a" deep 
sigh that could only mean : “ This is all very 
well, my dear nephew, but unfortunately I am 
already bound to your disagreeable uncle, and 
consequently we cannot come to a good under- 
standing. Don’t be foolish, or I shall have to 
say to you, ‘ Much too late.’ ” 

Nightfall put an end to our fishing. We 
returned toTejoon foot by the path already 
described. There was a moon — that kind 
of a moon which always seems more sil- 
very in the country, more melancholy and 


200 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


<2ven larger than when it lights up a city. 
Auntie went on ahead, leaning on Candidina, 
and would turn occasionally to speak to 
Father Moreno or to me. In order to go by a 
'Shorter route, we went through some plowed 
fields, and even through an inclosure, rousing 
the fury of a mastiff, who desired to take a nip 
at our legs. 

On arriving atTejo and entering the parlor, 
where a multitude of moths and tiny butter- 
flies were fluttering around the lamp, coming 
in through the open windows, auntie gave an 
exclamation, saying : 

Oh, in passing through the inclosure I 
have covered myself with loves / 

I understood what she meant ; some of 
those little flowers, or stiff, hooked plants, had 
stuck to her so closely that she could not get 
them off. Immediately I knelt down, and 
commenced to take off the loves, right and left. 
The pests stuck to my clothes also. Without 
changing my position, I raised my eyes to- 
ward her and murmured softly : 

“ They cling to me, too.” 

Just at that moment an ugly bat came in. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


201 


with its heavy and stupid flight, and made the 
circuit of the room several times ; making its 
appearance where we least expected it, and 
beating its wings against the wall or brushing 
against our heads, when we were most unpre- 
pared. We laughed and shouted, and armed 
ourselves with whatever we could lay our 
hands on — handkerchiefs, tidies — and pur- 
sued the hideous monster. Serafin was the 
first to lay hand upon it. In spite of the 
sharp cries it uttered on being caught, the 
acolyte held it tightly, asked for two pins, and,, 
stretching out its membranous wings, fastened 
it against the window frame. Afterward he 
stuck a cigarette into its mouth, and lit it 
with a match ; and while the bat struggled in 
its death agony, its persecutor made a thou- 
sand gestures and grimaces at it. 

It was a grotesque scene which caused us 
to shout with laughter, and I was giving myself 
up to the enjoyment of it when I heard Car- 
men, ask impatiently : 

“ Candidina, — where is Candidifta ? ” 

The girl did not appear. Then Carmen 
went to the window, and cried : 


e 


202 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


“ Papa, papa, come up here. Come and see 
the bat we have caught,” 

Don Romdn answered from the garden, I 
am coming;” and presently the old man came 
in with flashing eyes. 

The torment of the bat amused him very 
much ; but Carmen interceded for the victim. 

“ Serafin, leave that poor thing alone. It is 
all right to kill it, but not to torture .^t. Don’t 
be a Jew ! ” 


CHAPTER XIII. 


After the fishing excursion, my uncle came 
every afternoon to make love to his fia^icee^ 
and all that dawning intimacy between her and 
me disappeared ; perhaps it was imaginary all 
along. The wedding-day was fast approach- 
ing, and one could notice in the house that 
excitement which always precedes any great 
domestic event. 

One morning my uncle went to Naranjal to 
invite Sotopena to honor him by attending 
his wedding. But the great man was suffering 
with biliousness, and was just about to start 
for the Monddriz Springs, and his many urgent 
matters of business and important engage- 
ments would not permit him to put off his 
journey even for twenty-four hours. This 
refusal was a severe blow to my uncle, whose 
influence in the province would increase on 
receiving a public testimony of esteem from 


203 


204 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 

the tutelary divinity of the region ; from the 
man who was so popular, even among the men 
from his province, resident in the West Indies 
and South America. 

Seiior Aldao, on the contrary, felt more at 
his ease when he found out that Don Vicente 
would not visit them. What opinion would 
the owner of Naranjal form about the orna- 
mental improvements effected at Tejo? Don 
Roman’s instinctive regard for his own vanity 
was very great, and made him fearful that 
Sotopena might laugh in his sleeve at the 
little variegated balls which reflected the land- 
scape, at the plaster busts, at the stained glass 
windows in the chapel, at the great shield 
carved in wood, displaying the armorial bear- 
ings of the Aldao family, and at the hothouse 
made out of old window frames, and lastly, 
at all the arrangements for the wedding. 

As the wedding-day drew near, and the 
friends and relatives sent in their wedding 
gifts, my uncle took full advantage of his 
right to monopolize Carmen’s conversation, so 
that I found fewer opportunities to approach 
her, though my desire to do so increased more 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


205 


and more. I saw more clearly every day her 
glacial coldness toward her future husband^ 
though it was disguised and covered up by her 
gracious manners. 

I was sure that I was correct in these sur- 
mised ; it was impossible that I could make a 
mistake, as a more disinterested person might. 
Once or twice I perceived a start of repulsion^ 
a gesture of nervous impatience at times when 
a woman, seated by the man she loves, ought 
to show a face lighted up with joy. I also 
observed — and this lent importance to the first 
observation — that Carmen did not display any 
greater happiness or tenderness in talking to 
her father or her brother. She was respectful, 
cordial, and affable, but nothing more ; never 
effusive. 

On the other hand, I noticed that whenever 
she spoke to Father Moreno, she did reveal a 
warmth of feeling impossible to disguise, be- 
cause it shows itself in the gleaming of the 
eyes and in the inflection of the voice. See- 
ing this, I fell into disrespectful soliloquies : 

‘‘ The little friar cannot cheat me ! With 
those black eyes, that resolute air, that open 


2o6 


A CI/AVST/AJV IVOMAN. 


character, and the picture with the great beard 
— oh, oh, what an Aben Jusuf he is ! ” 

These suspicions were confirmed when I be- 
came convinced that the Moorish father and 
my aunt used to exchange those glances which 
everywhere bespeak a secret understanding ; 
sometimes rapid, though expressive, sometimes 
deliberate and full of meaning. , One would 
have said that Carmina and the friar were 
plotting together to effect some mysterious 
and important purpose. I even heard them 
whisper something to each other in the orchard 
one day. Can they meet at night ? ” I ven- 
tured to ask myself. But when I studied the 
arrangement of the house, I saw that it was 
quite impossible. Father Moreno had the best 
room in the house, except the one reserved for 
the bridal chamber, and it communicated with 
Don Roman’s room, so that the friar could not 
stir without being heard by him. Candidina 
and her sister slept in the same room with 
Carmina, so that it was impossible for her to 
attempt to go out at night without being de- 
tected. Thus I could find no foundation, on 
that side either, for my evil surmises. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


207 


But nevertheless, I had not the slightest 
doubt that the friar and Senorita Aldao under- 
stood each other, and were seeking for an op- 
portunity to meet clandestinely. 

I observed this on several occasions. I 
noticed the guilty ones, after taking their cof- 
fee, attempt to steal into the garden ; in the 
morning they would try to go secretly away to 
some nook or corner of the gallery. They 
were always interrupted either by Candidina’s 
willful pranks, or by my mischievous interven- 
tion, or by Serafin’s jests, or Don Romdn’s 
officious attentions. And Carmen’s annoyance 
was always apparent at such ^ times. The 
father was able to disguise his feelings much 
better. 

As I tried to think what I would do in their 
place, I began to perceive that there was one 
hour left them for a secret meeting, and that 
was the very early morning. By arising at day- 
break they could solve the problem. In fact, 
while the father was saying early mass, the 
greater number of the inmates of the country 
house were cosily lying in bed, as a general 
rule. 


208 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


As I expected that this plan would occur 
to them, I began myself to get up at unearthly 
hours. I would go to bed very early, not 
without having a lively skirmish with the 
clerical apprentice, who was determined to 
chat with me till the late hours of the night* 
Daybreak would scarcely have come when I 
would leave my downy /:ouch, and, barely 
awake, I would rush off to the orchard, which 
was delightfully cool, still moist with the night 
dews, full of the mysterious quivering of the 
foliage on being awakened by the sunrise, and 
fragrant with the delicious perfumes wafted in 
from the flowers in the garden. The murmur 
of the fountain was more melodious, sweet, 
and changeful than ever, as if it fell from 
heaven into a vase of glass. All these attrac- 
tions predisposed me to indulge in a reverie, 
and even made me forget that I was lying in 
ambush. 

By the second morning it came easier ; and 
afterward I rose early for my own pleasure, 
as I was then persuaded that my ambuscade 
would not bring me anything more than the 
enjoyment of seeing the orchard when so 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


209 


•charming. But I persevered, and on the 
fourth morning, while drinking in the pure air 
with delight, it suddenly occurred to me that 
it would be very pleasant to go up into the 
yew, and from that height watch the sun rise 
over the ocean. No sooner said than done. 
I ascended the stairs, passed through the ball- 
room, went up to the supper-room, and thence 
on to Bellavista. 

I stopped, surprised and enchanted by the 
panorama spread out at my feet. Near by 
was the gentle slope where , San Andres is 
situated; groves of chestnut-trees, corn-fields, 
meadows, and several mills, dotting the shores 
of the winding brook like pearl clasps on a 
diamond necklace, though they were not yet 
made brilliant by the rays of the sun. That 
was scarcely visible, showing itself, like tho 
betraying reflection of a great fire, in that part 
of the horizon where sea and sky flow together, 
and where the dark mass of the Casit^rides 
was outlined. 

It was a diffused light, like the first uncer- 
tain gaze of beautiful, half-opened eyes. The 
fog still veiled it. When the first rays of the 


210 


A CHRISTIAxV WOMAN. 


red globe began to light up the sea, so marvel- 
ously calm, a strange quivering stirred upon 
the surface of the waves, which were tinged 
with rich colors, as if the hand of some magi- 
cian had scattered over them gold, sapphires, 
and rubies. At the same time the landscape 
became animated, the river glittered in the 
sun, and the beach at San.Andr^s and Porto- 
mouro stood out pure and white, as though 
cleansed by the waves, with the silvery white- 
ness of their sands and the green festoons of 
their seaweeds.. The great aloes, in blossom, 
displayed their yellow plumes against the back- 
ground of the pure sky. The red tiles on the 
roofs appeared like coral. Suddenly, like a 
bird spreading its wings to fly, the lateen sail 
of a fisherman’s launch shot forth from the 
infinite blue of the estuary, in front of San 
Andres, and behind it came many others press- 
ing together like a flock of doves. I sat there 
fascinated. 

Some hidden prompting made me look in 
another direction, and I turned my gaze toward 
the orchard and the house, — the latter closed 
and quiet at that hour. The coat-of-arms 


A CHRISTIAN- I FOMA AT, 


2II 


carved on the wooden shield, the baskets and 
borders of roses, pansies, and petunias, the 
little grove of fruit trees, the watering trough, 
all appeared, from Bellavista, like sketches of a 
geometrical garden traced upon tapestry. The 
windows of the silent house gleamed in the 
sunlight just then. 

An event which our imagination has fore- 
seen, though it seems very unlikely to our 
reason, excites vivid feelings, even if it does 
not really concern us. My heart began to beat 
rapidly and my hands turned cold, when I saw 
both Father Moreno and Carmen emerging 
from different doors almost at the same time. 
They were evidently vying with each other in 
punctuality; they had agreed on a fixed hour ; 
and Carmen’s small gold watch and the 
father’s bull’s-eye chronometer, given to him 
by the English Consul’s wife, agreed to a 
minute. 

When the young lady and the friar caught 
sight of each other, they approached each 
other eagerly, as though they were anxious to 
meet by themselves, and had something very 
important to talk about. 


212 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


Carmen quickly bent down and kissed the 
father’s hand. Then, for a moment, they 
seemed to be discussing some question in an 
animated and serious manner, until the father 
suddenly extended his arm, pointing toward 
the yew tree. I knew that they could not 
see me, for instinctively I had hidden behind 
the thick foliage. I understood their gestures, 
which seemed to say : 

Up there in the tree we shall be better 
situated and can talk at our ease.” 

As soon as I perceived this, I had a sudden 
idea. I was burning with eagerness to hear 
that conversation, whether guilty or innocent, 
for it could not fail to be of the greatest inter- 
est to me. I felt that the first thing they 
would do, before talking unreservedly, would 
be to search the tree, although it was not likely 
that anybody would be there at such an hour. 
So I looked around for a hiding place. 

The foliage of the yew tree was not merely 
thick, but almost solid, so close that any one 
could easily hide behind it ; but it grew thin- 
ner toward the top. I saw no way of conceal- 
ing myself except by going down to the sup- 


A CHRISTIAN' WOMAN. 213 

per-room. There I could see and hear them, 
wherever they might place themselves. So I 
descended and, getting over the railing, hid 
myself among the shadowy branches, bestrid- 
ing the strongest one I saw. Some branches 
cracked, and two or three smaller ones broke ; 
the leaves rustled, and several startled birds 
flew off with a great fluttering of wings, to 
escape my pursuit, as they thought it. For- 
tunately, the friar and my uncle’s fiancee were 
passing under the covered walk of the arbor 
just then, and it was not possible for them to 
glance toward the tree, or to see anything if 
they did. Otherwise they would have no- 
ticed the agitation of the branches, compar- 
able to that of the water in a tank when a 
nutshell falls into it. They were still rust- 
ling and quivering when I heard the tapping 
of Carmen’s feet, and the father’s ponderous 
tread, coming up the stairway. 

They sat down close to each other, placing 
themselves so that I could see their faces by 
looking a little up ; and as they were in full 
light, while I was in comparative darkness, I 
could all the better study their expression 


214 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


and even hear their quick breathing, caused by 
their climb, and the creaking of the chair when 
the friar dropped his heavy weight on it. ' 

He spoke first, praising their selection of a 
spot where they might have a confidential 
chat without being overheard. 

“ Yes, it is true,” said the young lady, well 
satisfied. I agree with you, there is no 
other place where we can talk with entire free- 
dom. Either Serafin or Salustio would make 
their appearance in the orchard, and would 
stick to us, and there it would be impossible. 
Even if they should take a fancy to get up 
early, they would never think of coming to the 
yew tree. And have you noticed how persist- 
ent they are, how they will scarcely let one 
breathe ? ” 


/ 


CHAPTER XIV. 


‘‘ Particularly your prospective nephew,*^ 
replied the friar. “ I don’t really know ^^hat is 
the matter with that young gentleman, but it 
seems as though he were watching us. Some- 
times I feel tempted to send him to the deuce. 
Because if he and all the rest did not keep 
close to our heels, we should not be obliged to 
make use of this secrecy, which does not 
please me, my child, because it might give 
occasion to malicious interpretations; and it is 
not enough to be good, one must appear so 
also.” 

“ That's true ; but if I did not unbosom 
myself to you, I believe that I should die. 
There are certain things one cannot explain 
clearly in the confessional.” 

“To be sure; well, now that we are here, let 
us hope that the Lord will bring us some good 
out of this bad business. My child, opea your 


215 


2i6 a CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

heart, and say all you wish. Here is Father 
Moreno to listen to you and advise you, not 
now as a confessor but as a friend. I am 
really your friend — you know that very well, 
so further words are useless. 

“ Well, Father, I have no better friend than 
you. I am so unfortunate that it is impossible 
for me to confide either in my father or my 
brother ; we do not understand each other ; 
there is a barrier — I do not know what. I 
believe that you already guess what I want to 
consult you about.” 

The father smoothed his chin with his 
hand, as though in deep meditation. 

“According to what you said to me, you 
marry in order to prevent greater evils. I 
believe that I have understood.” 

“ No, no, Father, it is not that. The evils 
that may occur here, I cannot now prevent. I 
have done all that I could ; I have turned my- 
self into a watchman, a police agent, a spy, — 
everything that one can turn one’s self into, — 
certainly a repugnant and sorrowful part to 
play. But I am convinced that it is impossible 
to protect a woman who will not protect her- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 217 

self, and that the whims of old men are harder 
to combat than those of children.” 

My aunt hesitated a little. 

“ My papa,” she said, resolutely, at last, is 
like a boy of fifteen. He is wild after that 
girl ; blindly following her around, putting up 
with her mockery, and acting perfectly moon- 
struck if she makes a silly grimace at him. I 
should not mind it, if — at least — ” 

“You mean you would like to have him 
marry her ? ” 

“ Certainly. If the man who gave me being 
does not lose his soul, I shall feel resigned to 
all the rest. You know the trouble I had on 
Dona Andrea’s account. While she and my 
father lived — in that way — all I wanted was 
that they should get married. I should have 
my mother’s maid for a stepmother, but on 
the other hand papa would be living at peace 
with God. Dona Andrea is an unhappy being — 
believe me, she has a good heart. She has 
never shown the least disrespect for me, and 
has taken care of me with a real affection that 
I cannot describe to you. Only, she has no — 
what shall I say ? — has no — ” 


2i8 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


No moral sense.” 

‘‘ That is it. She is naturally good, but she 
cannot discriminate between good and evil.” ' 

“ That is what I call being idiotic in respect 
of conscience,” said the father. 

Just so. So when she found that she was 
old and ugly, she considered it the most 
natural thing in the world to bring this girl to 
our house, without doubt, in order to regain 
her ascendency over my father, or in order that 
some member of her family might inherit that 
honorable post ! ” 

My child, as you are going to get mar- 
ried, it is better to speak plainly — so that we 
may understand each other. Formerly your 
father lived maritally with Dona Andrea, and 
now — he does not ? ” 

“ You are right ; he does not now.” 

“Well, then, it does not make much differ- 
ence now whether your father marries her or 
not, if he has abandoned that sin. Still, so 
long as she remains here the scandal con- 
tinues.” 

“ Oh, no, sir ; ^there is no scandal at all ! 
Dona Andrea is in such a condition that it 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 219 

seems to me she cannot scandalize any one,’*^ 
replied my aunt, with a jocose and somewhat 
mischievous smile. 

“ So much the better, so much the better ; 
though when people are bound to be scan- 
dalized, my daughter, they do not look to see 
whether a face is pretty or ugly.” 

“ Father, unhappily, there will soon be here 
another cause for scandal, and that is what they 
look at. Don’t believe that people do not 
notice it. Not a bit of it. I blush with shame 
whenever I perceive that anybody notices cer- 
tain things.” 

“You surely have no cause to be ashamed,, 
my daughter. Shame was not made for you,” 
murmured the friar in so endearing and affec- 
tionate a tone that Carmen blushed slightly,, 
though I believe it was with pleasure. 

“ I can’t help it,” she stammered. “ A 
father is so sacred that you do not know 
how much a daughter suffers when she finds 
that she can no longer respect him, as she 
ought to do, according to God’s hol)^ com- 
mandments. Outwardly I treat him with re- 
spect, but inwardly — no, I can’t live this way^ 


220 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


There are times when I think I shall go 
mad ! ” 

“ Hoity, toity ! ” exclaimed the friar, gayly. 

Mad ; nothing less ! I have already told you 
that your head is like a volcano. I suppose 
you refer to what you have already told me — 
Candidifia ! ” 

“Yes, sir; he runs after her like a cadet. 
And I don’t know what to do, nor on whom 
to call. He has controlled himself during the 
last few days in the presence of his guests 
and of strangers ; but when we were alone, all 
I can tell you about the way he pursues her 
does not do justice to it. I will not enter into 
details which are unseemly ; suffice it to say 
that one morning I witnessed such a scene 
that I fell down on my knees at papa’s feet 
that night, and begged him, in the name of 
God and the Virgin, to marry that girl at 
once, or to send her away into service some- 
where else.” 

“ Do you think that the girl gives him any 
-encouragement ? ” 

“Yes, Father, encouragement; yet at the 
same time, when t/hings go too far she defends 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


221 


herself, and leaves me puzzled. Well, I am 
not obliged to look out for her. I have tried 
to persuade her ; I have scolded her and given 
her good advice ; I have her in my own room» 
Her own mother could not do more for her. 
What horrifies me is that my father, — believe 
me, — papa does not know what he is doing; he 
is crazy, — perfectly crazy. He is passionately 
in love with the girl ; I counted upon that 
when I begged him to marry her ; but he 
replied that the world — the people — and his 
social standing — oh. Father, I can bear it na 
longer! I cannot ! ” 

“ God bless me 1 ” sighed the friar. “ What 
folly ! and, allow me to add, what stupidity ! 
At his age — at his age ! ” 

“Fancy it; he has even gone so far as to 
say, ‘ I will not marry her, because that would 
be nonsense ; but, if Candidina leaves by one 
door, you shall leave by the other and go to 
your brother’s house.’ And he said it with 
such a tone and air that — why, I shed more 
tears that day, Father, than I should if my 
father had died ! If he had died ! Oh, I wish 
that he had died, if he were at peace with his 


222 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


Maker ! I would rather see him dead a 
thousand tirnes than this way — his gray hairs 
dishonored ! ” 

As she said this, Senorita Aldao seemed to 
me very handsome. Her eyes flashed, and her 
nostrils dilated with enthusiasm and indigna- 
tion. Her bosom rose and fell convulsively. 
The friar looked at her in amazement. 

“ You are more than right ! ” he exclaimed 
at last. How much better it would be to die 
than to wallow in disgusting sins ! Death is 
nature’s law ; we all have to pay that tribute 
sooner or later ; but, my child, at least let us 
refrain from paying another to the devil so that 
he may laugh at the way he cheats us. How 
slight a thing man is, my child, and for what 
vile toys he will go to destruction ! Lucifer’s 
sin consisted in pride, an ugly sin, but it is not 
so vile, so indecent as — faugh ! ” and here the 
friar gave a start like a man seeing some dis- 
gusting animal. 

“ Unfortunately,” said the young girl, trying 
to calm herself, “ there is a little of everything 
here, and pride plays an active part in this 
affair. If it were not for pride, papa would 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


223 


-marry that girl who has turned his head so 
completely. People would laugh at him a 
little, — that is, a good deal, — but there would 
be no disgrace, no crime. I should not be 
obliged to submit to what has caused me such 
bitter sorrow ever since I reached the years of 
discretion. Furthermore, I should not have 


She hesitated, but finally added : 

“ I should not be obliged to get married.” 
Her revelation was of such serious import that 
the friar sat amazed, shaking his head and 
tightening his lips, as though saying to 
himself, “ Bad, very bad.” 

So you ” he added, “ Carmina, let us 

speak without reserve, for we are here, in a 
sense, as though in the confessional. You are 
not marrying willingly ? ” 

“Yes, Father, I marry willingly because I 
Fave made up my mind to do it, and when I 

make up my mind to do a thing I formed 

that resolution the day that my father told me 
that if Candidina left the house, I should leave, 
too. Anything rather than hear and see what 
I have to. I have no other way of protesting. 


2 24 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

My filial respect ties my hands and even my^ 
tongue. But to sanction it by my presence ; 
no, never ! ” 

“ And your brother ? asked the friar,, 
eagerly. 

“ My brother — my brother has a child every 
year, and they need money, and my father gives 
it to them. That closes his eyes to every- 
thing ; and he has even scolded me many times 
for urging papa to get married. He says that 
if he gets married he may have more children^ 
and injure our prospects. I once thought of 
taking refuge with my brother, but his wife 
does not want me there, nor he neither. I shall 
not force my presence where it is not wanted.’' 

The friar remained silent for a few moments, 
his brow knit, and his hands pulling at the 
tassels of the cord which bound his waist. 
His face revealed the greatest anxiety, and he 
coughed and breathed heavily before ventur- 
ing to speak, as though he were about to make 
some decisive and weighty remark. 

“Well, my child,” he said, at last, “my ad- 
vice is only what any person of ordinary judg- 
ment would give you. It is not a joke to get 


A CI/AVSTIAJV WOMAN'. 225 

married, nor does it last only for a day. No, 
my child, it is the most decisive step of the 
whole life, for an honorable woman as you are, 
by the mercy of God. Tell me the truth, do 
you dislike that man ? ” 

“ Dislike him ? ” 

Another long period of silence ensued. I 
held my breath. The rough branches of the 
yew tree cut into my flesh and the hand with 
which I was clinging to the tree began to get 
numb. 

At length Carmen spoke in a changed 
tone : 

“ Dislike him ? I do not know. What I do 
know is that I do not feel any great affection 
toward him, nor any of that enthusiastic — 
-don’t get frightened. Father. I do not mean 
enthusiastic love. Let’s see if I can make 
my meaning clearer. I should like, when I 
get married, to be able to look on the hus- 
band whom I am to take, in the sight of God, 
as a person worthy of the respect of all the 
world. Father, do you think that Felipe is — 
that? ” 

Daughter, I speak with entire candor. I 


226 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


have never heard that he has committed an/ 
crime, but his reputation is not very high in 
regard to political machinations, and he is not 
much liked. As you have asked me, I must 
tell you this.” 

“ That he is not much liked,” said Carmen,, 
with remarkable sagacity, “ cannot be due ta 
political machinations, for in that respect let 
him who can win. So I think it is for some 
other reason. Have you noticed his face ? ” 

“Yes, I have. It is — goodness, I do not 
know how to tell you, daughter ! ” 

“ It is the face of a Jew,” said Carmen, reso- 
lutely. “ It may seem singular to you that I 
should say so, — I should dare say so only to 
you. It is a Jewish face, indeed; so marked 
that it cannot be mistaken. For that reason, 
when you asked me whether I disliked him, I 
was undecided. That face, — it has cost me a 
great deal to get accustomed to it. I don’t 
know whether he is ugly or good-looking, but 
that face ” 

I was listening with all my might when, 
owing to a circumstance foreign to the conver- 
sation, I was seized with sudden anguish. The 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 227 

fact is, I felt the branch of which I was astride 
be^in to creak with an ominous slowness as 
though notifying me that it was not made to 
hold birds of my size. Nevertheless, I kept on 
listening : 

“ Well, my child,” said the friar, resolutely, 
if you feel such an antipathy or dislike toward 
him as you really seem to, you should not marry 
him. At least, consider whether you are able 
to go through with it. Reflect well on what 
a married woman’s condition is. Remember 
that the husband you take, whether he pleases 
you or not, is your life-long companion ; the 
only man whom it is lawful for you to love, 
who will be with you one flesh, — that is what 
the Church says, — one flesh. He will be the 
father of your children, and you owe him not 
only fidelity but love ; do you understand ? 
ril repeat it to you, — love. Child, reflect, now 
that there is still time ; don’t be obstinate. I 
“know it would make a stir and trouble to break 
off the engagement, but so long as the indis- 
soluble tie does not exist — pshaw ! These 
things furnish food for foolish tongues for a 
couple of days and then are forgotten. While 


2 28 A CHJ^ISTJAN WOMAN, 

as for the other, my child, death alone, — only 
the death of one of the two, — can dissolve it. 
Do you understand what the sacrament of 
marriage signifies ? Do you know what a hus- 
band is to a Christian woman ? I want you to 
study that question well, my child. Don’t say 
afterward that your friend Moreno did not 
warn you in time ! ” 

Just then I broke into a cold sweat. It was 
not fear ; no, though the branch was breaking. 
The danger of falling from so great a height 
was not enough to frighten me at that mo- 
ment ; but I dreaded the mortification of 
being caught in such unworthy eavesdropping. 
For then I could see clearly that my eaves- 
dropping was unworthy, my curiosity an 
affront, and my lying in ambush an outrage. 

The cracking of the dry wooc^, that dull and 
agonizing cra-a-a-ck ! cra-a-a-ck ! seemed to 
say, in its thick and broken tones : Imperti- 
nent meddler, gossip, Paul Pry ! ” I seemed to 
hear the Father’s disdainful voice lashing me 
with these scornful words : “ I had already 
spotted you. I knew before that you were 
watching us. Fool, you thought that we were 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 229 

all complacent slaves of passion, and that this 
young lady and I — well, now you have seen 
that we are two decent people.” 

Making up my mind to renounce hearing 
the rest of their dialogue, I tried to slide down 
the branch, mount astride the next, and, 
branch by branch, descend to the ball-room, 
and thence to the ground. The operation as 
a gymnastic exercise was not difficult ; but it 
was impossible to carry it out without making 
any noise — noise which would surely attract 
the attention of the two speakers and im- 
mediately betray my hiding place. The at- 
tempts I made to measure the distance were 
causing a prolonged rustling of the leaves. 
My only choice was to keep calm, to hold out, 
not to breathe, to commend my soul to God, 
and to hope everything of the strength and 
good nature of that branch. Consequently, I 
tried not to bear my whole weight on it, 
and remained half suspended in the air, in 
a very painful position. What exasperated 
me most was not to be able to pay due 
attention to their conversation, which was 
then more animated than ever. I do not 


230 A CHjRISTIAN WOMAN. 

know whether I heard the last part very well ;■ 
but I believe that the following is more or less 
what Carmen said : 

“ It is evident that we cannot do anything 
without God’s assistance, but I do not consider 
it vanity on my part to assure you that I shall 
fulfill the duties I assume. If you knew. 
Father, how that word duty sounds to me I 
I assure you with all the truthfulness of my 
soul, if I imagined that I should fail in my 
duty toward him, as time goes on, I would a 
thousand times rather die first. No ; neither 
my husband, nor my father, nor God, shall ever 
have any cause of complaint against me. In 
that way I shall live — or shall die happy. If it 
were to be otherwise, I would kill myself ! I 
am marrying with my eyes open. Circum- 
stances have placed me in this peculiar position 
— well, then, with my eyes open, I will be 
good. I don’t want to make excuses before- 
hand ; I will be good, even if the earth should 
sink ! ” 

Let the reader smile ; but these words made 
me wild with enthusiasm ; so much so that I 
even forgot my dangerous situation. I arose^ 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


231 


as though to applaud her, reaching out my 
hands toward my angel of an aunt, when, by 
an involuntary movement, I fell heavily upon 
the branch ; a terrible noise was heard, which 
seemed to me like the blast of an unchained 
tempest, and I instantly became aware that I 
was falling, slowly falling, the heavy, thick 
foliage seeming to retard my fall, though I 
scratched and bruised myself fearfully on the 
sharp points of the smaller branches and the 
knobs on the larger ones. It seemed as 
though I was a century falling ; and in the 
midst of my bewilderment I thought I heard 
overhead, up in the tree, exclamations, cries, 
and a confused clamor. 

Finally, my descent grew faster and faster. 
I tore some of my clothing, and at last fell flat 
on my face on the turf. I bounced up like a 
ball, and went off, running like a hunted deer. 
What I wanted was to hide myself — to disap- 
pear — to cover up, if possible, my wrong-doing 
and its ludicrous result. 

This thought spurred me on, and gave 
me wings, and even sharpened my wits, 
leading me to plunge into the covered walk 


2^2 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


through the fruit trees, where they could not 
see me from the yew. From that to the little 
grove was but a step, and from the grove to 
the arbor covered with honeysuckle, no dis- 
tance at all. Into that I rushed, and without 
paying any attention to my scratched and 
bloody hands or my bruised condition, excited, 
beside myself, I lowered myself over the wall, 
and, once out of the orchard, did not consider 
myself safe till, pushing on through short cuts 
and cross-paths, I reached the beach. “ A per- 
fect alibi ! — I was bathing ! ” 

I undressed myself in a twinkling. 


CHAPTER XV. 


The wedding took place two days after this 
episode. I awoke that day with a violent pain 
in my chest. By dint of applying cloths 
soaked with arnica, which I slyly procured of 
the druggist in San Andres, I had succeeded in 
partly disguising the scratches and bruises I 
had on my face. As for my clothing, I had 
only torn the lining of my coat ; that was 
lucky. The only two witnesses of my fall had 
doubtless agreed to keep silent ; but they 
would look at me from time to time, and I felt 
a disagreeable sensation on meeting Carmen’s 
surprised and severe gaze, or the Franciscan’s 
eyes, in which I thought I observed a humili- 
ating mixture of anger and contempt. For 
that cause I deeply regretted my bruised con- 
dition, thinking to myself, “ Fll bet I have 
sprained or broken something, and that will 
necessarily let the cat out of the bag.” To 
my physical depression there was joined a 


233 


234 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


mental state of considerable excitement, as 
the following paragraphs from my latest letter 
to Luis will demonstrate ; 

My dear boy : I don’t know how to tell you 
what has happened to me. By chance I have 
discovered Carmen’s secret, and I am convinced 
that she is an angel, a seraph in the shape of a 
woman. The friar was right when he declared 
that Carmina is the type of a perfect Christian 
woman. Undoubtedly there is something in 
such a woman which calls for reverence ; some- 
thing heavenly. I did wrong to doubt it or 
even to imagine that she might not be a saint. 
If you knew how unhappy she is, what self- 
sacrifice she is making! I will tell' you what 
is going on — and then you say whether there 
can be greater heroism or dignity of character. 
I have been lost in amazement ever since I 
have learned the motives for her conduct.” 

I then proceeded to explain affairs at length, 
praising Carmen’s wonderful strength of char- 
acter ; and added, to finish making a clean 
breast of it : “I think that the friar is good, 
also. Although it may seem very strange, yet 
I am inclined to think that he does fulfill his 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


235 


VOWS. There is no doubt of it, my boy, he will 
fulfill them. Virtue does exist, of course it 
does ! There is even such a thing as country ! 
I don’t know really what my feelings are ; 
whether, since I have seen clearly what my 
auntie is I love her more, in a highly_refined 
way, or whether I no longer care for her as a 
woman. What I am sure of is that my uncle 
does not deserve the treasure which has fallen 
to him from heaven. I know I shall never find 
such a* woman, if ever I get married myself 
some day.” 

I wrote this letter on the eve of the fatal 
day. At daybreak next morning I felt sore,, 
as I was saying, and all my bones ached ; I had 
a great desire to stay flat on my back without 
moving, thinking, or breathing scarcely. But 
the cursed acolyte came into my room with 
his customary jokes and boyish pranks, and at 
once fell to pulling off the sheets. 

“ What is the matter ? ” he asked ; “ is your 
breast-bone broken ? You are like the cats 
that smash themselves jumping off the roof. 
What pains our young gentleman ? Shall I 
rub you ?” 


236 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

I arose painfully, and, threatening him with 
my clenched fist, exclaimed : 

“ If you talk about falls — ” 

“ Well, we’ll talk about whatever your 
Excellency desires. Ne in furore tuo arguas 
me ! ” 

I will argue with you- with a shoe, if you 
■don’t keep quiet.” 

“ Oh, it’s not worth while to put yourself 
out ! Get up, for they are already putting all 
the frippery on the bride. Don’t you hear the 
orchestra from the Royal Imperial and Botan- 
ical Theater ? Mighty good music ! ” 

I could, in fact, hear, coming up from the 
court, the light, rapid notes of a country meas- 
ure, which seemed to dance along with pas- 
toral joy. It was the pipers tuning up and 
playing their prelude. That lively, merry, 
jubilant music depressed my heart. 

Making an effort I set my bones in motion. 
I felt a depressing uncomfortableness in my 
chest, as though it held a heavy stone, giving 
me unendurable distress. Pulling myself to- 
gether, I washed, dressed myself as well as I 
could, and went down to breakfast. Nearly 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 237 

all the guests were there. I noticed that 
Sefior Aldao was uneasy, and learned that his 
disturbance arose from a letter he had just re- 
ceived from Naranjal. Don Vicente Soto- 
pena’s godson and proteg^, Lupercio Pimentel,, 
wrote it in the former’s name, and after many 
courteous congratulations and great profes- 
sions of friendship for my uncle, he went on to 
say that Don Vicente had commissioned him 
to be present, in the great man’s name, at the ^ 
wedding feast, if not the ceremony itself. 

Hence came Don Roman’s anxiety, for he 
was afraid that something might be lacking of 
the elegance which the presence of such an 
important personage demanded. He would 
almost have preferred to deal with the great 
chief himself. The latter, at least, was very 
unassuming and frank, and if one gave him 
country dishes and jokes in Galician dialect,, 
he would not observe any omission. On the 
other hand, the godson — Heaven only knows! 
He was young, very elegant, and accustomed 
to the splendid festivities in the Capital. 

After dispatching our chocolate without 
much ceremony, we proceeded to the parlor. 


238 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

We could hear merry feminine voices outside 
in the hall, and soon afterward the bride made 
her appearance, surrounded by several of her 
young friends from Pontevedra, invited to the 
ceremony, and by Candidina, Dona Andrea, and 
the little girl, who were all stumbling over each 
other in their eagerness to get a good view of 
her. 

Carmen Aldao was pale and feverish, with 
deep circles under her eyes. Her eyelids had 
a heavy, purplish look, as though she had 
passed a sleepless night. She wore the white 
dress with the net-work of imitation pearls, a 
black lace mantilla, fastened with jeweled pins, 
a spray of natural orange blossoms on her 
breast, long gloves, and carried a lace hand- 
kerchief and a prayer-book and rosary inlaid 
with pearl. 

After bowing to her lover, who said good- 
morning ” to her in a somewhat constrained 
voice, and then smiling at the rest of the 
company, she remained standing in the middle 
of the room, not knowing what to do next. 
But when Sefior Aldao, at a signal from Uncle 
Felipe, said, “ Let lis proceed to the chapel,” 


A CHI^ISTIAN WOMAN. 2391 . 

Carmen advanced, and went up to her father 
with a frank and eager air. 

Forgive me if I have ever offended you," 
she said, in a vibrating, though restrained 
voice, and I pray you give me your bless- 
ing." 

As she spoke, she fastened on her father an 
eloquent, profound, and almost dreadful look, 
so intense was it. Her father turned away, 
murmuring, “ May God bless you ! " 

I believe that I saw something glistening in 
his eyes. There are some things which grate 
on the nerves. 

Her friends devoted themselves to arranging 
the bride’s dress, pulling out her flounces and 
picking up the pearl beads, some of which 
were already rolling around the floor. Not 
walking arm in arm, and in considerable dis- 
order, we set out for the chapel. 

It was fragrant with flowers, and entirely- 
carpeted with ferns and anise, while the altar 
was lighted up with countless tapers. The 
ceremony was rather long, as they were mar- 
ried and took the communion at the same 
time. I heard the clearly pronounced “ yes ’* 


-240 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 

of the bride, and the indistinct one of the 
bridegroom. I heard read what everybody 
calls St. Paul’s Epistle, though it may not be 
so. There the husband is compared to Christ, 
the wife to the Church ; and, in confirmation of 
the man’s superiority, the embroidered stole 
fell over the head of the bride at the same 
time that it fell on her husband’s shoulder. 
Carmen Aldao, crossing her hands on her 
breast, bowed her head and submitted to the 
yoke. 

A number of peasants were among the spec- 
tators, attracted by curiosity, and were crowd- 
ing each other with a respectful murmur in 
their efforts to see, over the heads of the gen- 
try. When the mass was over, the fire-crackers 
went off, the country pipes gave forth their 
characteristic harsh sounds; and the people all 
rushed out in a body, while the bride was 
surrounded by her friends, who filched the 
orange leaves and buds from her dress, and 
gave her hearty smacks. 

That was an awkward moment. Where 
should we go ? What should we do ? How 
should we entertain the company ? 


A CHjRIST/AN' woman. 


241 


Castro Mera, who was young and lively, pro- 
posed that we should go over to the yew, 
have the piano brought out into the garden, 
and get up a dance, while the married couple 
and Father Moreno were breakfasting, as they 
had not been able to do so before on account 
of the mass and communion service. They 
all consented to this arrangement, but the 
dancing had scarcely begun when the bride re- 
appeared without her mantilla. She had only 
taken a sip of chocolate, and came to fulfill her 
social duties. She herself played the first coun- 
try dance down in the garden. The second was 
played by a young lady from Pontevedra, and 
Castro Mera then danced it with her, whom I 
may now with propriety call my aunt. After- 
ward a young lady from San Andres proposed 
to have a waltz. I had dragged myself through 
the country dance only so that people should 
not discover how much I was suffering with my 
bruises ; but when I heard them say “ waltz,’’ a 
Wertherian thought flashed through my mind : 
“ I will embrace the bride before the arms of 
her lover have touched her.” Rising quickly, 
and forgetting all about my sprains, I invited 


242 


A CHRISTIAN WOxHAN. 


Iier to take a turn. She refused, smilingly, but 
her friends pushed her on, and then, making a 
grimace as though to say, “Well, it will be for 
the last time,” she rested her left arm on mine 
and allowed my right arm to encircle her 
waist. 

As I clasped her form, I forgot all about 
my fatigue and bruises, and felt intuitively 
that I was more in love than ever with that 
woman who was now indissolubly bound to 
another. Thus to hold her — in that room 
walled in by vegetation, gilded by the sun,, 
which at times, stealing through the branches, 
cast a playful ray upon the bride’s hair or 
brow — made me beside myself. I observed 
the delicate outlines of her lithe figure ; I felt 
her warm breath on my cheek ; and the wild 
fancy which agitated me became a longing so 
vehement that I was obliged to exert all my 
self-control in ordftr not to press her so closely 
to my heart as to hurt her. 

Nevertheless, my transport was the purest 
and most sublimated of all such loving rapt- 
ures. I felt a heavenly illusion, if I may so 
call it ; a divine illusion, noble in its origin and 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 245 

development. What thrilled me most was the 
thought that I held in my arms the purest and 
holiest woman on earth, and that, although she 
belonged to another, she was still a virgin, pure> 
unsoiled as the calyx of a lily, as the orange 
blossoms which she still wore on her bosom, 
and which, as they faded, gave out an intoxi- 
cating and delicious perfume. 

We waltzed on very smoothly, and between 
the turns, I believe I said to her : 

“ As we are relatives now, may I address 
you with the tu ? ” 

“ Of course ; it would be absurd for you to 
be so terribly formal as to say usted to me.” 

“ Will you get vexed ? ” 

^ ** No, why should I ?” 

I remained silent. The silken folds of her 
dress brushed caressingly across my knees, and 
I felt my heart, agitated by the movement of 
the waltz, beating violently. Then, with an 
irresistible impulse, the truth burst from mjr 
lips : 

‘‘Auntie,” I murmured, “forgive me. I 
have behaved very badly toward you, don’t 
you know ? I was indiscreet. But then, I am 


244 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 

SO glad, so glad ! Because I now know all that 
you are worth ; and listen — I know it to be so 
much, that I am like one crazy. Don't you 
see it ? ” 

'‘Be quiet, you silly boy!” she replied, 
somewhat short-breathed from dancing. “If 
you were really indiscreet, what shall I say to 
you ? You did very wrong.” 

“ I know it,” I said, remorsefully. “ For 
that very reason I want you to pardon me. 
Pardon me, come now, pardon me. Will you 
forgive me ? ” 

“ Oh, yes,” she replied, as though acceding 
to a childish whim. 

“ How good you are ! ” I exclaimed, impul- 
sively, in a low, deep tone. 

We took several turns more, and felt our 
heads grow dizzy from waltzing in such close 
quarters. She stopped for a moment, and I 
then inquired : 

“Auntie, do you expect ever to dance again ? ” 

“ No, this is my last waltz. Married women 
do not dance.” 

“ The last ! ” 

“ Certainly.** 


A CHRISTIAN- WOMAN 245 

“Then give me, I beg you, that spray of 
orange-blossoms. Do give it to me ! ” 

“ What do you want it for ? ” 

“ Give it to me, or I shall do something 
desperate.” 

‘‘Take it, nephew,” she replied, stopping; 
“ and don’t ever hide in the trees again.” 

I grasped the spray as a robber would grasp 
a stolen treasure, and looked at my aunt, 
searching her eyes to their depths. I did not 
perceive either resentment or severity in her 
while she thus frankly avowed that she had 
discovered my outrageous performance. But 
a slight sense of startled modesty was discern- 
ible in her eyes, though this severe bearing 
was tempered by a half-smile and the anima- 
tion of her countenance, flushed by the dance. 

I would gladly have had that waltz last for- 
ever. I remained silent, for the force of my 
feelings tied my tongue ; while I felt that I 
was raised to the fifth heaven. Unable to 
restrain myself, I must have clasped her slen- 
der waist too closely, for suddenly aunt 
stopped, and with an agitated countenance, 
but a firm voice, said : ““That is enough.” 


CHAPTER XVI. 


We did not sit down to dinner until three 
o’clock in the afternoon. We were somewhat 
crowded because the dining-room was almost 
entirely taken up by a huge table in the shape 
of a horseshoe, adorned with vases of flowers 
placed at regular intervals, and pyramids of 
confectionery. There were more than thirty 
guests present ; many of the gentry from San 
Andres, several priests, a number of physicians, 
the adjutant of Marines, three or four landed 
proprietors, judges, district politicians, young 
ladies, some of my uncle’s political adherents, 
and even the good Don Wenceslao Vifial, who 
placed himself at my side so that he might 
have some one with whom to talk about his 
archaeologico-historical whimseys. 

Lupercio Pimentel, Don Vicente’s godson, 
had the place of honor at the bride’s right 
hand. He was good looking, well mannered, 
an easy talker, cordial and full of fun, after the 
246 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


247 


fashion of politicians of the present time, who, 
instead of relying on the force which ideas and 
principles carry with them, trust to their own 
personal magnetism. From the commence- 
ment of the banquet, I observed that he left no 
stone unturned in order to ingratiate himself 
with the company ; “ those elements,” as he 
would say. He looked around, and I heard 
him say, bending toward my uncle over the 
bride’s shoulder : 

“ How is it that the Mayor of San Andres is 
not here ? ” 

“ Because he is so opposed to us,” replied 
my uncle. 

For that very reason he ought to be here. 
Our friend Calvete must afterward put his 
name in the list of guests,” he added, pointing 
to the editor of El Teucrense^ who bowed, 
greatly flattered. 

After a moment’s reflection, Pimentel re- 
sumed : 

Let two go after him. If necessary, have 
them bring him by force, so long as he gets 
here in time to hear the toasts.” 

Castro Mera and the officer of Marines rose 


124S A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

with docility, and under a blazing sun wended 
their way to San Andres, in order to bring 
back the refractory and obstinate “element.” 

While they were serving the soup, the great 
leader’s godson said to my uncle in a low tone, 
yet so that his words should make due impres- 
sion on the public : 

“ Cdnovas has made himself oiit of the ques- 
tion. He has got the opinion of all sensible 
people against him. The Regency is not feas- 
ible with him. A conservative Administration 
would not be feasible.” 

It appeared to me — I do not know why — 
that many of those present did not compre- 
hend the meaning of the word feasible, but 
somehow took it for granted that it all meant 
something very bad, and highly prejudicial to 
Cdnovas; but they fully understood when 
Pimentel observed that Pi’s party was Uto- 
pian, and they murmured their approbation. 

I scarcely listened. I was in the yew, 
waltzing, feeling the floor sway, and seeing the 
green foliage tremble with a prolonged rustle. 
At the second course I was obliged to emerge 
from my reverie, because the clerical appren- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 2^^ 

tice, seated at my left, took it upon himself to 
pinch me, nudge my elbow, and step on my 
foot at every word that Pimentel uttered. 

I do not know what had come over Serafin ; 
perhaps the two glasses of Burgundy which he 
had imbibed with his soup, had stimulated his 
impoverished blood and drew him out of his 
childish foolishness, causing him to utter 
satirical and biting jests. All I affirm is, that 
he accompanied his nudges and kicks with 
some terrible remarks worthy of a Juvenal in 
a cassock, 

“Behold,” he said, in a low tone, “the 
greatest rrfiracle of the miraculous boss. He 
has made a great man out of that creature. 
What do you think of it, Salustio? And what 
is your opinion of the indecency of us Gali- 
cians? We leave the temple of the Lord 
deserted, and worship the golden calf — fece- 
runtque sibi deos aureos. They will not make a 
pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of 
Nieves, and yet they repair to the saint of 
the orange grove, to feed on offices and pap. 
They all do it — not one is lacking. He who 
cannot get there alive will be carried there 


250 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 

dead. And you’ll not escape the contagion, 
either. You’ll worship the miraculous saint 
for if you don’t, invent all the magnetic 
bridges and electric carriage-roads you please, 
and your countrymen will pay no attention to 
you whatever. Why don’t you become a 
saint also, you goose?” 

Fortunately, the length of ,the table, the 
number of guests, and the hum of conversa- 
tion prevented them from hearing the string of 
nonsense the ecclesiastical monkey uttered ; 
but I could not restrain my laughter on seeing 
the amazement depicted on Don Wenceslao’s 
face, who was seated at my right hand. 

The saint had just 'performed one of his 
miracles, in the person of the lucky archaeolo- 
gist, by getting up for him a nice little salary 
as librarian to the Legislature ; and his face ex- 
pressed the most profound terror. If Pimen- 
tel should hear that wild talk 'and attribute 
it to him ! In spite of the customary som- 
nambulistic condition of library mice, Vinal 
sharpened his ears, perceiving the terrible risk 
his blessed three hundred a year were exposed 
to. 


A CIIJ^ISTIAN WOMAN. 


251 


“ Salustio,” he said to me, in anguish, “ make 
that silly fellow stop talking. He is draw- 
ing attention to us. Stop him, for pity’s 
sake.” 

The highly excited state of my nerves in. 
duced me to go contrary to the wishes of the 
peace-loving scholar. I also felt inclined ta 
sour and pessimistic censure. What irritated 
me was my uncle’s aspect, overflowing with 
satisfaction, while he paid more attention ta 
Pimentel than to his bride, and even gave a 
toast dedicating the banquet to the protector 
of his disgraceful schemes. 

“ Cringing people,” I thought, “ if you want 
to worship any one, bow down all you like be- 
fore Father Moreno, who represents the sacrifice 
of a life on the altar of an idea ; bow down before 
that bride who is the personification of virtue 
and duty ; but as for doing it before him whose 
only merit consists in distributing pap! — I 
also am disposed to give vent to my feelings. 
Serafin is not far out of the way.’' 

Not knowing howto relieve my impatience, 
and without paying the slightest attention ta 
Vinal, who was pulling at my sleeve, I im- 


2S2 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

proved the first opportunity to contradict 
Pimentel. I think it was about Pi and his Uto- 
pias — and the things that were feasible or not 
feasible. It caused a great sensation when 
they heard me dare to raise my voice in such 
an inconsiderate manner, and my uncle looked 
at me with an expression which redoubled my 
ardor. 

“You say the Republic is not feasible here? 
And why not, I want to know ? We cannot 
possibly prolong the abject state of anarchy in 
which we now live. We are suffering from the 
drawbacks of a monarchy, and, nevertheless, 
do not enjoy its advantages. There is no co- 
hesion, no unity, while political customs have 
deteriorated so greatly that nowadays the 
public man who aspires to set an example of 
morality appears ridiculous, and he who holds 
any opinions of his own likewise.” 

Pimentel turned toward me, replying with 
calm courtesy : 

“ What you desire and what we all desire, in 
fact, might answer for other races — oh, yes, for 
northern races ; but here, with the Arab blood 
in our veins, and our everlasting rebelliousness 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 253: 

— oh, it would be impossible, utterly impos- 
sible ! ’’ 

Nobody was a more ardent defender of civil 
rights than he ; his sacrifices were well known 
to all (they bowed assent), “ but let us not con- 
found, gentlemen, let us not confound anarchy 
and license with a just, reasonable, and feasible 
liberty. The northern countries produce states- 
men because the masses are already educated 
for political freedom ; it comes to them through 
hereditary transmission, if one may so say — it 
is hereditary. If you don’t believe it, just look 
at the theories of Thiers — English public 
opinion ” 

I, not knowing how to extricate myself,, 
caught hold of Thiers like a drowning man 
catching at a straw. 

“ It must be the French opinion you mean, 
sir ; for you cannot be ignorant that Thiers 
was a ” 

I purposely made a pause, during which my 
adversary looked at me with some anxiety. 

Thiers was a Frenchman.” 

The priest from San Andres timidly ven- 
tured to say, from his corner ; 


254 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


‘‘Of course he was a Frenchman, for it was 
he who restored peace to France after the 
Commune.’' 

As I looked around to observe the impres- 
sion my words had made, I noticed that Don 
Roman’s face expressed disapprobation and 
surprise, while my uncle’s was flushed with 
anger, and Father Moreno’s lighted up by a 
roguish smile. 

Pimentel replied, somewhat confused : “ Of 
course he was a Frenchman; we were not 
speaking of that, I believe. We were discuss- 
ing English public opinion, — for, there is no 
doubt about it, England is the land of self- 
government, as the renowned Azcarate proved 
so conclusively, — while we — our idiosyncrasy — 
it will not do to implant here what in other 
nations more — it will not be, feasible ; be- 
cause every ruler has to consider the inherent 
tendencies of the race.” 

“ That is all talk,” I argued ; “ generalities, 
which prove nothing. Let us come closer to 
the point, if you please. We have nothing to 
do with races. We are talking about the 
Spanish Republic, to which all those who are 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 255 

in authority to-day, big and little, had com- 
mitted themselves, but which they betrayed 
for thirty pieces of silver, like Judas. Would 
they do the same by the Restoration, if it had 
not given them full swing with the Govern- 
ment’s salary-list ? ” 

I did not perceive the insolence of my at- 
tack, until I heard Serafin exclaim in his 
harsh voice, clapping his hands : 

That’s it ! Go on, that’s where the shoe 
pinches.” 

Pimentel wiped his mustache with his nap- 
kin, turned his head toward me, and instead of 
answering me in an angry manner^ smilingly 
agreed with me, saying : 

‘‘ That is very true, Senor Melendez. The 
tact of the Restoration in compromising with 
the revolutionary elements has rendered feas- 
ible that which under other circumstances — ” 

His speech was interrupted just then by the 
arrival of the Mayor of San Andres, who was 
almost dragged in by the committee that had 
gone in quest of him at their young chief’s 
command. They must all have run up the hill, 
for they were dreadfully out of breath. 


25 ^ A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

The Mayor was in a dripping sweat, and 
kept mopping his face with an enormous 
handkerchief. He stammered out that he did 
not consider that he was called upon to sit 
down at such a fine banquet ; but Pimentel, as 
sweet as honey, seized his hand, found a place 
for him at his own side, and endeavored by 
every means in his power to gain the good will 
of his political opponent. 

I should not be able to give the menu of that 
tiresome dinner. It seemed as though all the 
dishes enumerated in cook-books kept coming 
on the table, while the stupidity of the servants, 
and their inexperience in serving, prolonged 
the dinner indefinitely. The .most difficult 
task of all would be to give a detailed account 
of the wines, the sweets, the liqueurs, the 
endless pastry, the coarse Pontevedra preserves, 
and the cakes sent by this or that neighbor, 
which, as the donors themselves were present, 
could not possibly be slighted. 

I drank five or six glasses of champagne, but 
the only effect they had on me was to revive 
the belligerent spirit which had induced me to 
attack Pimentel. I felt quarrelsome, aggres- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


257 


sive, quixotic, and desirous of pitching into 
everybody, right and left. And beneath that 
singular efferv^escence I felt the throbbing of a 
dumb ache in the depths of my heart, a sort of 
longing for something I seemed to have lost. 
I cannot define it for it was one of those 
subtle, vivid feelings which sometimes do not 
correspond to any deep mental need, but to 
certain fantastical whims thwarted by stern 
reality. 

The bride, at whom I glanced furtively from 
time to time, had a dejected and weary ap- 
pearance. This was very likely nothing more 
than the fatigue caused by the long time they 
were at the table, but I fancied that it was 
melancholy, the bitterness of the chalice she 
had put to her lips, the foretaste of the bitter 
draught. 

And why not? Had I not overheard the 
conversation in the yew tree ? Was I not 
positive that my uncle inspired her with an in- 
explicable feeling of aversion, and that only in 
order to perform a moral duty, the “ categor- 
ical imperative” of her faith, had she^ drawn 
near to the altar, a veritable sacrificial altar for 


258 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

her ? I wanted, at all hazards, to penetrate 
into the depths of her inmost soul, and read 
that gentle and suffering spirit. What could 
she be thinking about ? What can she hope 
for? What can the fair bride be afraid of? 

Meanwhile, the champagne, which had only 
quickened my imagination, began to affect the 
others more strongly, as was shown by their 
flushed faces, flashing eyes, somewhat obstrep- 
erous voices, unwarrantable and vehement 
loquacity, loud laughter, and silly effusiveness. 
Pimentel, although more decorous and self- 
possessed than the rest, became animated also, 
discussing with my uncle a grand project which 
would assuredly be an epoch-making event in 
the annals of the Sotopefta party ; nothing less 
than to convert the procession in honor of the 
Virgin into an imposing political manifesta-^ 
tion, Don Vicente himself to carry the stand- 
ard, while all the people of Pontevedra and its 
vicinity, for seven leagues around, would turn 
out to furnish an escort of honor to their pro- 
vincial divinities, the Virgin and their wonder- 
working saint. Some of the priests were lis- 
tening to this project, and highly applauded it,. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


259 


exclaiming : ‘‘ Excellent— give Catholic senti- 

ment the first place ; that’s the way ! ” Castro 
Mera was vehemently insisting on the excel- 
lency of law, a young man from San Andres 
was challenging another from Pontevedra to 
see which could drink the greatest quantity of 
Curagoa ; the officer of Marines was disputing 
with the Mayor about the fishing tackle pro- 
hibited by law ; Serafin was laughing convul- 
sively because Vinal was maintaining with 
great energy that he had documents which 
proved that Tenero had founded Hellenes, and 
was even, boasting that he knew the spot 
where Tenero was probably buried. 

Don Romdn Aldao at last determined to 
make a move, telling the rest of the guests not 
to disturb themselves, for he was only going 
to show Pimentel the grounds and to take a 
little fresh air. The bride went‘ off leaning on 
Pimentel’s arm, while her father and the bride- 
groom followed them arm in arm. As soon as 
they left, the rest became more animated, and 
the hullabaloo grew so loud that nobody could 
make himself understood. Some were disput- 
ing, others laughing loudly, others were arguing 


26 o a CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 

and pounding the table, already stained with 
wine and dotted with bits of cake and sweet- 
meats. Nobody was eating any more ; they 
only kept on drinking, consuming an extraor- 
dinary amount of wines and liqueurs. The 
young gentleman from San Andres, the one 
who had made the wager, had been obliged to 
go to the window to cool his heated brow^ 
while the other one, from Pontevedra, was still 
unmoved in spite of the prodigious quantity of 
wine he had guzzled down, and was entertain- 
ing himself by teasing Serafin. He had already 
made him drink a quart of spirits, and now was 
amusing himself by pouring out sherry and 
Pajarete for him through a cylindrical bit of 
pastry, used as a funnel. 

The acolyte would sometimes protest, some- 
times swallow it down, while his pale and dis- 
torted face revealed the effects of the alcohol. 
Finally he asserted himself, and shouted in a 
bellowing tone : 

No more; I don’t want any more! Get 
out, I am not a sponge ! ” 

He pushed away the other’s hand, and the 
sherry was spilt over his shirt front, soaking it 


A CHJ^ISTIAN WOMAN'. 


261 


completely. Suddenly his paleness turned 
into an apoplectic flush, and mounting his 
chair he began to harangue the company : 

“ Gentlemen, I know I am not doing right 
to stay here. It would only serve me right if 
you were to drown me in Pa-Pa-jarete — or 
some other Liberal poison. You are all 
Liberals — the first is proved per se — per se.^' 

“Per so!'' shrieked Castro Mera, and the 
officer of Marines. 

“ To be a Liberal constitutes a greater sin 
than to be a homicide, an adulterer, or a blas- 
phemer. This second proposition I can prove 
by Sardd and the fathers of the church at my 
tongue’s end. Therefore I, who drink Pajarete 
with you, am liable to the major excommuni- 
cation — Catce sente7itice ! Don’t you know 
what a big-bug of the ecclesiastical hierarchy 
once said ? Don’t you know, you blockheads? 
He! he! he! Well, he said: ' Curn ejus 
modi nec cibum sumere' — Hey? It seems 
that he made it clear enough. Cum ejus 
modi nec Pajaritum su — sum^P' 

I looked at him with curiosity. There was 
no doubt that sometimes that toad was sin- 


262 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

cere in his ravings, and that his true feelings 
bubbled forth from his lips. The acolyte con- 
sidered himself nothing less than an apostle, 
and talked away, threatening us with his fists. 
His cries became hoarser, his throat con- 
tracted, and his eyes, which looked like two 
big white balls, seemed to start from their 
sockets. Suddenly he passed from words to 
deeds, and seizing the bottle near him threat- 
ened to throw it at our heads. What most 
excited his fury was Pimentel’s project for the 
civico-political procession. That drove him 
wild. Strange effect of drunkenne'^s ! When 
in his normal state, and free from vinous influ- 
ences, the clerical apprentice was very meek 
and humble ; but as soon as he was under the 
influence of alcohol he became belligerent and 
aggressive. He abused us all soundly, and 
freed his mind especially regarding Sotopefla. 
I clearly perceived that trouble would ensue, 
for Castro Mera, somewhat elevated also, 
rushed to the fray, defending right and left 
the political principles which the little priest 
was berating; and as the latter was replying 
with fearful invectives, — or, rather, insulting 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 263 

epithets, — I suddenly saw him froth at the 
mouth, heard his maudlin laugh, saw him 
double his fists, and noticed that his wander- 
ing hands were seeking among the plates and 
glasses for a weapon — a knife. I restrained 
Castro Mera, saying, in a low tone, “ He has a 
terrific epileptic fit.” 

In fact Seraffn was already struggling in the 
arms of several, who rushed forward to hold 
him, with herculean strength, or rather a for- 
midable nervous force, a momentary effect of 
the seizure ; he fought like a wild animal, bit- 
ing, scratching, and kicking so that at times 
we thought that he would overpower us all. 

Finally we succeeded in tying his hands with 
a handkerchief. We deluged him with co- 
logne, cold water and vinegar ; we picked him 
up by his feet and shoulders, and with great 
difficulty succeeded in taking him up to the 
tower, and throwing him upon his bed, where 
he lay in a heavy stupor, broken at intervals 
by short, sudden spasms. 


CHAPTER XVIL 


We went down into the garden, and the 
cool evening air served to refresh our heated 
brains. I thought that I was not even on the 
verge of what is meant by intoxication, but 
nevertheless I attributed the strange weight 
on my heart, the profound melancholy which 
took possession of me, to the effects of wine, 
which sometimes produces that painful tedium. 
Those happy, jesting, merry people, who con- 
sidered the wedding a joyous event, inspired 
me both with disgust and an inexplicable aver- 
sion. They roamed over the grounds, enjoy- 
ing themselves and laughing, but I tried to be 
alone with my own dark thoughts and lugubri- 
ous fancies. My imagination took on blacker 
hues every moment, as though some dire mis- 
fortune was weighing me down. I wandered 
off instinctively to the most retired nook in 
the orchard, and, opening the worm-eaten gate 
which lead into the grove, rushed through im- 
264 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 265 

petuously, eager for quiet and solitude. A 
clear, energetic voice exclaimed : 

“ Where are you going, Seflor Salustio ? ” 

In voice and words I recognized Father 
Moreno. He was seated on a stone bench, 
leaning against the wall, and reading a book, 
which he closed as he saw me. 

I came here,” he said, “ looking for a fit 
place to read my prayers. I was just finishing. 
And you, may I ask whether you also have 
come out from the orchard to pray ? ” 

No,” I replied, with the impetuous frank- 
ness which is the usual result of several glasses 
of strong wine inside one. I came because 
all those people bored me with their noise, 
their jollity, and silliness, and because their 
stupidity made my head ache.” 

‘‘ Bravo, dear sir, you are right, more than 
right ! I also was satiated with both the food 
and the company. It was a veritable hulla- 
baloo, and it is not singular that it should scare 

away a friar— but you ” 

Father Moreno, believe me, there are days 
when, taking no account of one’s belief, he 
feels like becoming a friar, and renouncing the 
follies of the world.” 


266 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


The friar fastened his calm, powerful, and 
piercing eyes on mine, saying : 

“ Do you really feel so ? Well, then, you 11 
not be surprised if a poor friar should reply to 
you that in my opinion you are already at the 
beginning of the road to knowledge, and even 
happiness, as far as it is possible for man to 
obtain it in this world. To seek for peace and 
to renounce our worldly affections is not vir- 
tue ; it is simply calculation and selfishness. 
Believe me, sir, 1 do not envy anybody in the 
world, but on the other hand, I pity a great 
many people.” • 

My pride as a layman did not rebel at his 
words. I was surprised at this afterward, 
when I reflected that the friar’s compassion, 
ironical though it probably was, ought to have 
given me offense ; because, taking into con- 
sideration my ideas, my ways of thinking and 
feeling about religious questions, and the 
ridiculous significance in my mind of monastic 
vows, it was I that should have pitied the friar, 
and pitied him as one does victims of an ab- 
surdity and of a useless immolation on the 
altars of a mistaken idea. My strange acqui- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 267 

escence in Father Moreno’s words can only be 
explained oil the supposition that there exists 
in the inmost depths of our soul a perpetual 
tendency to self-sacrifice, to renunciation ; a- 
tendency, so to speak, derived from the Chris- 
tian subsoil upon which the crust of our ration- 
alism rests. At that moment of moral de- 
pression the thought occurred to me : “ Which 
is better, Salustio, to go on studying, to learn 
your profession, practice it, get married, as- 
sume the care of children, endure the trials 
and tribulations of life, bear everything which 
it must bring in its train, sorrow, disappoint- 
ments, struggles, and combats, or pass your 
days like that good Father, who, at a wedding 
festival, takes his book and comes out into the 
grove to pray so peacefully ? ” 

“ Yes, indeed, I pity a great many,” pro- 
ceeded the friar, taking my arm familiarly, and 
leading me through the grove to a little 
meadow beyond, which ended in a fence over 
which ParietaricB and wild flowers grew. ‘‘To 
people who judge by appearances only, it may 
seem that I ought to be envious in the midst 
of a wedding-feast, or at least consider my con- 


268 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


dition so different from that of married people, 
eh? Well, see here, I assure you (and you 
will not suppose me to be juggling with words, 
for you know now that I am very frank) that 
it seems rather as if the newly-married couple 
inspired me with a feeling of compassion — yes, 
compassion — when I realize the hardships 
which await them on their way through life, 
however happy they may be, even though God 
should shower upon them all that is under- 
stood by the word happiness.” 

The friar’s sentiments tallied so well with 
mine just then, that I would gladly have em- 
braced him. But yielding the second time to 
the desire to unbosom myself, I sat down on 
the fence and said : 

“ Father Moreno, the marriage appears per- 
fectly absurd to me. Either I am much mis- 
taken, or it will lead to most lamentable 
results. Carmifla is an angel, a saint, an ex- 
ceptional being ; and my uncle — well, I have 
reason to know him.” 

The appearance of the Father’s face sud- 
denly changed. His eyes became severe, he 
knit his brow, and ^his smiling lips contracted 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 269 

into a serious, almost austere expression. His 
face revealed, what was seldom visible there, 
the stamp of his vocation ; the friar and con- 
fessor was reappearing from under the sem- 
blance of the affable, courteous, human, and 
communicative man. 

“You speak thoughtlessly,” he said, without 
circumlocution, “ and ^^ou must pardon me for 
bringing you up with a round turn. Perhaps 
you think that you have something to found 
your opinion upon, though I really regret that 
you oblige me to recall that — because I desire 
to forget that you were more indiscreet and 
inquisitive than is fitting in a person who, by 
his training and the scientific nature of his 
profession, ought to set everybody an example 
of seriousness. You know we have never 
alluded to that subject, but now that you 
yourself afford me an opportunity, I shall not 
let it pass by. I believe that you acted as you 
did out of the natural thoughtlessness of 
youth ; if otherwise, my goodness ! ” 

“ To what do you refer?” I asked, feeling 
my personal dignity begin to assert itself, and 
looking him squarely in the face. 


2 70 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

“ Bah! as if you did not know ! But I am 
not one who measures his words. I refer to 
the tree — to the yew. Do you want it still 
clearer? To the fall you got for listening to 
what did not concern you in the least.” 

See here, Father, your garb does not give 
you a right to everything, — I-^ ” 

“You were listening to us? Yes or no. 
No rhetoric, now.” 

“ Yes, if you want to know. Yes, but with 
the desire to ” 

“ To hear what we were talking about.” 

“ No, sir ; wait ; let me explain myself. You 
may be superior to me in discretion. Father 
Moreno, and on that occasion I acknowledge 
it ; but as for pure intentions and high-minded 
purposes, — Father, in spite of all your vows 
and your belief, you do not surpass me in that 
regard ; I give you my word of honor.” 

“ I admit that you are right, and it is a good 
deal to admit,” said the friar, calmly ; “ and I 
do so because I have liked you from the first 
moment I saw you ; because I think I can read 
and understand your disposition, and I do not 
at all perceive in you fiendish malice, or a cor- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 27 1 

rupt heart, or wicked purposes. Come, now, 
you must acknowledge that I am doing you 
ample justice. But in the case we speak of, I 
fancy that you are laboring under a foolish, 
romantic spirit, which leads you to go about 
righting the wrongs of the oppressed, as Don 
Quixote did ; and that you suffer from a mor- 
bid curiosity which sometimes tempts us to 
meddle in affairs that do not concern us, and 
that the Lord has given us no commission to 
regulate.” 

“ But my uncle’s marriage ” 

“ May possibly affect you, inasmuch as it 
concerns your personal interests ; but as for 
whether Carmen will be happy or unhappy, 
whether she is good or bad, — with that you 
have nothing whatever to do any more than I 
have with the affairs of the emperor of China, 
not a bit more, Sefior Don Salustio ; and still 
less to endeavor by means of an indiscretion to 
penetrate into the sanctuary of a spirit and 
the intricacies of a conscience.” 

“ Father,” I answered, proudly, for I was 
urged on by my anger at his reprimand, and by 
my singular and unpleasant predicament, *‘you 


272 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


may say what you please about my conduct^ 
and I will pay due respect to your words, not 
on account of the garb you wear — which does 
not mean much in my estimation — but on 
account of the dignity with which you wear it. 
Let it be conceded that I was indiscreet, a 
meddler, a veritable Paul Pry, or whatever you 
like to call me ; but that does not prevent me 
from being right in predicting evil of a mar- 
riage made under certain conditions and cir- 
cumstances. Now that you are aware that I 
have cause to know all about it, and now that 
I acknowledge myself guilty of playing the 
spy, do not deny that what you did to-day in 
the chapel was to give your sanction to a fatal 
and horrible mistake.’' 

The friar kept looking at me, his frown 
growing all the while darker and more dis- 
pleased. In other circumstances his manifest 
displeasure would have restrained me ; but at 
that time no one could have silenced me. 
I caught him by the arm, and said, reso- 
lutely : 

“ Listen, Father, — marriages which have not 
been consummated are very easy to annul. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


273 


according to canon law. You must know that 
better than I. Speak to me frankly; I appeal 
to your honor, Father. We may avert a terri- 
ble misfortune. Do you think I had better go 
to Senorita Aldao, and say to her, ‘ Poor child, 
you do not understand what you have rushed 
into, but you still have time ; your marriage is 
not valid; protest, and break it all off.. Don’t 
let the wrong become complete. Free your- 
self from that fearful thing. In your inno- 
cency, you cannot imagine, unhappy girl, what 
it is to be my uncle’s wife. It is a horrible 
thing, I assure you. I hope I may never live 
to see it. First, let me become blind ! Father 
Moreno is an honorable man, and his advice 
to you is the same as mine. Come, now, 
be brave, break the chain — I will help you, 
and the Father and all of us will help you. 
Courage ! ’ ” 

“ What I can swear to,” said the friar, “ is 
that you are crazy, or are in the straight road 
to become so. Or else — see here ! ” He 
clapped his hand to his forehead, and added, 
“ How many glasses of sherry have gone down 
you to-day? ” 


2 74 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

“ Do you think that I am drunk?” I shout- 
ed, drawing myself up fiercely. 

“ I give you my word,” he said, readily, 
“ that I do not believe you are in that shame- 
ful condition. I only wish to say that the wine 
has somewhat excited your brain, producing a 
disturbance which is more moral than physical, 
and which shows itself in talking fair-sounding- 
nonsense, in meddling in other people’s affairs 
and in regulating the world to suit ourselves — 
goodness, when the one who should regulate it 
is God ! ” 

“ Very well ; but if I should say to Carmina 
that she must annul her marriage, what would 
be your reply ? ” 

“ I should advise you to take care of your- 
self, and probably should say to you, ‘ Soak 
your head, my son, for it is red hot ! ’ ” 

“ So you think there is no remedy!” I cried, 
with painful vehemence. “ That we should 
allow the iniquity to be consummated and the 
catastrophe to be brought on with our arms 
folded ! But is it possible that you do not 
know my uncle? Don’t you see the meanness 
and vileness of his nature — above all, when 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


275 


compared with the goodness of that incom- 
parable woman, whom you ought to venerate 
as much as the Virgin Mary, because she is as 
good ” 

I could not go on. Exasperated and flushed 
with anger, with all the energy of his nature 
and the spirit of his calling, the friar stopped 
my mouth by laying his broad hand on it. 

By my faith ! by all the saints ! I feel like 
sending you I know very well where, and I 
would send you there if I did not see that you 
are in an abnormal state of mind. Serafin 
drank the Pajarete, but you have the fumes of 
it in your head. I did not believe it before, 
but now, — I did not imagine that too much 
drink was what ailed you ; but if you go off in 
such wild sayings, the greatest favor I can do 
you is to suppose that you are tipsy.” 

I stepped back, protesting and offended. 

Take care. Father, be careful what you 
say! Nobody has a right to hurt ” 

The friar, quickly passing from anger to 
cordiality, clapped me on the shoulder, say- 
ing : 

Don’t get offended. Good gracious ! Lis- 


2t6 a CHI^ISTIAN WOMAN". 

ten to me quietly if you can. Your potations 
have inclined you to take a high and sublime 
stand, which proves that you have a fund of 
good feeling stored away m your heart, that 
springs to the surface when you are least in 
control of yourself ; precisely when you speak 
with perfect freedom, ex abundantia cordis. 
This is what I have observed, and I tell you 
so sincerely, with the sincerity becoming a 
member of a religious order, who neither dis- 
guises his thoughts nor concerns himself over 
trifles. I will even grant you more. Possi- 
bly, in the midst of your — ahem — excitement, 
you may clearly perceive the future, and be a 
prophet in maintaining that this marriage has 
been, humanly speaking, a blunder. But you 
make no account of the aid of grace and of 
Providence, which never fails the good, the 
simple-hearted, or those who do their duty, 
and trust in the word of Christ. Peace in the 
soul is a real treasure, among the many false 
ones the world offers. .Don’t pity your aunt, 
or me, or any one who walks in the straight 
path and knows how to defy man’s physical 
nature.” 


A CHRISTIAN' WOMAN. 277 

The friar’s arguments pierced my brain like 
a sword. Rather it was not his arguments, 
but the tone of conviction and veracity with 
which he uttered them, aided by my state of 
mind, and the silly admiration of the “ high 
and sublime,” as the Father put it, induced by 
my tipsiness. At any rate, my pessimistic 
opinions sprang up afresh, and so did my de- 
sire to make an end of my wretched existence, 
or at least of its hurtful illusions. Repressing 
a longing to throw myself into the friar’s 
arms, I exclaimed : 

“Alas, Father, how correct you are in 
that ! Oh, if one might only enjoy your be- 
lief and wear your garb ! Tell me whether a 
rationalist may enter a convent. I believe he 
can. Oh, I feel so sad, so sad. It seems as 
though my life were at an end.” 

The friar looked at me with singular pene- 
tration. His eyes seemed like two lancets 
probing my heart, and dissecting its fibers. 
His tone became more severe as he said : 

“ Take care that you do not lose your self- ' 
respect, or forget your purpose to behave 
yourself like a man of honor. However, look- 


278 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

ing closely at the matter, provided you do not 
make an end of the lives of the others — do 
what you please with your own.” 

I did not turn my head, or droop my eyes, or 
blush. If the friar’s eyes accused, mine made 
an open confession ; they almost challenged 
him, as though I said : “ Agreed, you can read 
my thoughts, I make no attempt to conceal 
them. Judged by my views of morality, what 
I feel is no crime. The only crime is to have 
performed that marriage ceremony.” 

I turned my back on him, and, jumping over 
the fence, passed on into the fields. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 


I DO not know whether the desire to get 
away from Tejo or to seek greater soli- 
tude, induced me to stroll toward the beach. 
Night had fallen. The moon had risen red 
and angry, but was resuming her serene ap- 
pearance as she mounted into the sky. The 
murmuring waves broke against the rocks, 
when I seated myself with a dull sense of pain 
and an inclination to give myself up to all the 
dreams and chimeras of an imagination heated 
by the after effects of the champagne. The 
soft ripple of the placid estuary, the tremulous 
glimmer of the moon on the water, and the 
mysterious effusiveness inspired by nature, 
predisposed me to the following monologue : 
‘‘ If she and I had been married to-day, I 
would get rid of these troublesome people, and 
would lead her here on my arm ; I would sit 
close to her on this very rock, which seems 
made on purpose for an experience like that. 


279 


28 o a CHRISTIAN WOMAN 

which one never could forget. Encircling her 
waist with my arm, resting her head against 
my breast, without startling her, without of- 
fending her delicacy, I would gently prepare 
her to share with me the full rapture of pas- 
sion, to yield herself joyfully to the fated un- 
folding of human love. And these would be 
the most joyous, most delicious moments in 
our whole life. We would be wrapt in silent 
and profound bliss. How sweet our silence 
would be ! Perhaps such joy would be too 
great for our hearts to bear. It might be so 
intense that we could not endure it. For that 
reason it lasts but a short time, and is rarely 
found. And,” I went on in my soliloquy, “ the 
fact is, such happiness will never be yours, my 
boy. Auntie Carmen is like all women, and 
only possesses one innocency. She will lose it 
to-day. To-day another man will pluck the 
lily. To-day, what you respect more than 
anything else in the world, is given over to 
profanation. No matter how many years may 
pass, or how many favors you may obtain from 
that woman, you will never be able to bring 
her to this beach in the moonlight, through 


A CHI^ISTIAN WOMAN. 


28r 


paths overgrown by honeysuckle, to taste emo- 
tions never felt before, to enter into life 
through the gateway of illusion.” 

This was the substance of the wild fancies 
which floated through my brain during the 
paroxysm of my grief, while I struggled against 
the depression caused by my partial intoxi- 
cation. A vague idea floated through my 
mind dominating all the rest : If Carmen’s 
lord were not my uncle, I should not be so 
given over to misery and rage. My romantic 
fancy for her is only my everlasting prejudice 
against him, taking on another form.” 

I went up to Tejo feeling more desperate 
than if I were suffering under some real and 
terrible affliction. I believe that on my way 
there I threw down and trampled on the spray 
of orange blossoms I had so eagerly begged 
her to give me that morning. I endeavored 
to control myself so as not to commit greater 
acts of folly, and when I entered the house I 
avoided meeting anybody and went directly to 
my room, longing to throw myself on my bed, 
to fall to cursing, or to toss around until I 
should fall asleep, overcome by fatigue. 


282 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

As I ascended the stairs leading to the tower, 
I recollected that I had the key of Serafin’s 
room in my pocket, and that I ought to find 
out how he was getting on. He must be snor- 
ing by this time, I thought, as I opened the 
door. I shaded the candle with my hand, and 
peered in to see what the poor drunken crea- 
ture was doing. As I looked at his bed, where 
I thought he was lying, the acolyte arose from 
the floor at my feet, where he was crouched, 
laughing and showing his ugly teeth like an 
ape. 

“You little beast, what are you doing 
there?” I said. “A nice mess you’ve made 
•of it to-day. You ought to be whipped. 
Were you praying on account of your sins ? 
Come, get into bed at once, or I’ll — give you 
a good one ! ” 

He rose up. His small eyes gleamed with a 
cat-like phosphorescence ; his face was still dis- 
torted, and his stiff red hair put the finishing 
touch to his wild and impish appearance. 

“ I don’t want to go to sleep,” he cried, 
grating his teeth. “ I am enjoying a free per- 
formance, and I have a private box to myself.” 




A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 28 ^ 

“ What do you mean, you toad ? ” 

“ It’s true. Look for yourself.” 

His meaning flashed through my mind, and I 
kneeled down quickly to look in the direction 
in which the acolyte was pointing. The bridal 
chamber was directly underneath the tower. 
I knew it, and quickly recalled that fact before 
I looked. The ceiling was not plastered, but 
the beams were left bare, and through a crack 
in the floor of our story, as the room under, 
neath was lighted, we could see perfectly all 
that was going on. 

I shuddered as I became convinced that I 
was actually looking into the bridal chamber. 
It was true ! I could see it ! I could see it 1 
What a dreadful discovery ! I restrained my. 
self so as not to cry out, and so that I might 
remain there motionless, instead of scraping 
the floor and rattling its boarding in my insane 
fury. Fortunately, by chance, by the will of 
God, there was nothing going on in the room. 
It was entirely empty. At either side of the 
toilet table a pink-colored candle was burning 
in a brass candlestick. There was another one,, 
in a porcelain candlestick, on a stand behind 


284 A CI/I^ISTIAN WOMAN. 

the large bronze bed. Flowers, roses especial- 
ly, were scattered around everywhere ; on the 
tables, on the desk, on the toilet table, even in 
hanging-baskets. What a profanation of na- 
ture ! Roses for such a nuptial night ! The 
very solitude of the place, the strange silence, 
worked on my imagination to such an ex- 
tent that I even fancied I could smell the roses 
which impregnated the atmosphere of the 
room below. I seemed to hear through the 
open window the notes of the nightingale, 
which usually sang in the orange tree at that 
hour of the night, and also its fluttering about 
in the climbing plants in the court. The 
whiteness of the half-opened bed, the quiet 
of the room, the graceful toilet table 
with its vaporous lace folds falling to 
the floor, all excited me, rendered me 
wild, and increased the tumult which raged 
in my heart. My temples throbbed, and I 
seemed to feel something like the singing of 
the sea in my ears, for as I stooped down the 
blood rushed to my head, and I felt like roar- 
ing. 

The acolyte touched me on the shoulder. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 285 

“ Look here, monsieur comrade, that is not 
fair,” he growled. “ I also have eyes to see 
with.” 

“ If you don’t keep quiet, I’ll smash you to 
atoms,” I answered, fiercely. 

“Well, at least tell me what you see.” 

“ I can’t see anything, you owl,” I replied^ 
“ Nothing at all, nothing ! ” 

“ Haven’t the actors arrived yet ? Hasn’t 
the curtain risen ? Isn’t the orchestra playing 
yet ? ” he inquired. 

“I told you to keep still!” L shouted^ 
angrily. 

From that moment the persistent fellow 
kept quiet, although afterward I discovered 
that his silence was neither due to his dis- 
cretion nor goodness. 

I still kept on watching, without paying 
further attention to him. The bridal chamber 
remained deserted, suggestive, alluring. 

I eould see the smallest details with ex- 
asperating clearness. There were several hair- 
pins on a small glass tray, and pins stuck inta 
a cushion ; the pillow cases had a shield em- 
broidered in the center, and a branch o£ 


286 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

southern wood was placed in the small font of 
holy water. I counted the moths which flew 
in through the window, singeing themselves in 
the lights ; I counted the crystal prisms on 
the candlesticks. 

I thought that my heart would burst when 
I heard voices in the doorway, a confused 
murmur of farewells ; the latch was raised, and 
a person entered with a light and somewhat 
timid step, and alone. It was Carmen. 

Oh, Heavens ! I prayed for strength not to 
scream, not to faint. In her white bridal robe, 
somewhat crumpled by having been worn all 
day, she was bewitching. The first thing she 
did was to go up to the window, as though she 
felt the need of fresh air. She remained there . 
a few moments, and I could perceive the beau- 
tiful curve of her neck, and fancied I could read 
her thoughts. Then she came away from the 
window and looked at herself an instant in 
the glass, as it seemed to me with more 
curiosity than vanity. Her object in consult- 
ing the mirror seemed to be : “ Let me see 
how I look since the great event which took 
place this morning.” 

\ 


7 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


287 


Then, with a quickness which showed that 
she was accustomed to doing without a maid, 
she began to take off her ear-rings, bracelets, 
pins, and clasps, carefully placing them on the 
glass tray, with the deftness which always 
characterized her purely mechanical move- 
ments. Then, raising her arms, she began to 
take out her hair-pins, one by one. I gazed 
upon that splendid ornament of a woman, her 
loosened hair, in all its beauty. Uncoiled, it 
fell in heavy, black waves down to her knees. 
A painful restlessness took possession of me. 
That loosening of the hair seemed to me a 
prelude to other freedoms of the toilet, which 
I was about to witness ; and the mere thought 
made my blood boil in distressing fury. For- 
tunately — and I could have given thanks on 
my bended knees for that — I perceived that 
she had loosened her hair only to make her- 
self more comfortable, for she simply combed 
it out and gathered up the whole mass in a 
loose knot. After this, she leaned her elbow 
on the table, rested her cheek on the palm of 
her hand, compressing her lips and slightly 
moving lier head up and down, like one strug- 


288 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


gling with perplexing thoughts. I noticed a 
painful contraction in her face ; she had the 
appearance of one who when she finds herself 
alone, abandons herself to meditation, and 
allows the countenance to express the feelings 
of the heart. Her eyes partly closed ; she 
bowed her head on her breast, let her hands 
fall into her lap, and — I clearly heard it — she 
sighed, a deep sigh, drawn from the depths of 
her heart. Then she raised her head, and 
remained for some moments with her eyes 
fixed on empty space. Suddenly she breathed 
heavily, and rose like one who adopts a firm 
and decided resolution. And just at that 
moment — 

Oh, I will not look, I do not want to see ! 
A man entered the room, stealthily, with a 
beaming face, but yet with somewhat irreso- 
lute and constrained bearing. If my eyes 
had had the power of a basilisk’s, the ' bride- 
groom would have dropped down dead, anni- 
hilated by my look. The silhouette of the 
deicide stood out against the window frame,^ 
and I saw the gleam of his white shirt-front. 
The light fell full on his face, more repulsive 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 289 

than ever ; on his copper-colored beard ; his 
hard eyes, which I could have torn from their 
sockets. 

I heard a silly and mocking laugh behind 
me. I turned, arose, and saw the acolyte 
crouched down, looking through another 
crack in the floor. He still held in his hand 
the razor with which he had widened it. 

A murderous impulse ran through my veins, 
and, trembling with rage, I clutched Serafin by 
the throat, choking him while I cried : 

“ I will cut you in bits, I will strangle 
you this minute, if you dare to look again. 
Do you hear, you toad ? It will be the worse 
for you if you dare to peep through that 
crack again. I’ll kill you without a shadow 
of remorse ! ” 

“ But, you were peeping, too — nuts and old 
Nick ! ” squeaked the poor youth, still hic- 
coughing, after he had somewhat recovered 
his breath. “ What a way you have ! The 
old Nick ! You have driven your fingers 
through my throat ! ” 

“ I shall not look any more — nor you, either. 
We were both brutes. If we had any de- 


290 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

cency, we should not have thought of look- 
ing. Serafin, we are not beasts — we are men I 
No, you shall not look again.” 

‘‘Now you are crying — you are half crazy^ 
I declare ! ” exclaimed the theological ap- 
prentice. 

“You are the one who is crazy and pos- 
sessed with the devil,” I answered, making a 
heroic attempt to repress the senseless tears 
which were burning between my eye-lids. “ I 
am not crying ; but if I did, it would be out 
of shame for having kneeled down there. I 
am going to bed ; but as I am not sure that 
you will not get down again on all fours, I 
shall tie you to the bed-post.” 

“ Don’t do it, Salustio, don’t,” cried the 
terrified rebel. “ Don’t tie me ! I give you 
my word of honor not to look.” 

I fastened his hands with a handkerchief^ 
and his body with a towel. He might have 
released himself by the slightest movement, 
but he was so terrified and subdued that he 
did not even stir. He only groaned from time 
to time. 

I stretched myself on the bed. Who could 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


291 


have slept in such circumstances ? The end- 
less night passed on, and I kept twisting and 
turning, hiding my face in the pillows, cover- 
ing my eyes and ears with my hands, as 
though to shut out the images and sounds 
which jealousy presented to my mind. 

At daybreak I arose from my bed of torture, 
washed and dressed myself, and without re- 
leasing Serafin, or taking leave of anybody, or 
seeing a single soul, went off to San Andres, 
and thence to Pontevedra and Ullosa, like one 
who flees from the spot where a terrible crime 
has been committed. 


CHAPTER XIX. 


My mother, with her usual sagacity, saw 
at once that I was preoccupied and morose, 
but she made a mistake as to the cause. 

“ They must have slighted you at Tejo,’' 
she said. “ Don’t say it is not so, for I am 
sure that they treated you in a shameful man- 
ner. If not, why did you rush off like a fright- 
ened hare, without taking leave of anybody? 
Come, now, tell your mother all about it.” 

Although I vowed and protested that I had 
been treated with the greatest kindness, she 
would not believe it. 

“ Well, well, keep it to yourself, make a mys- 
tery of it ; but I’ll find it out, for everything 
leaks out. Some of the others will tell me all 
about it.” 

I had to tell her all the particulars of the 
wedding; or, rather, she went ahead of my 
story, and showed herself acquainted with de- 
tails in a way that amazed me. She was posted 
on points where I was ignorant. It was char- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


293 


acteristic of her quick and sharp wit to master 
the minor matters of life, but to remain in 
ignorance of its deep, eternal laws, which can 
be perceived only by superior minds, and which 
will control life until its last breath is drawn, 
and the universe grows cold through the ab- 
sence of love. 

During the first days of my stay in the vil- 
lage I felt much better. The singular frenzy 
of the day of the wedding had subsided 
through lack of external stimuli to revive it ; 
so much so that I came to fancy that my en- 
thusiasm over Carmen, my furious jealousy, 
the poetic reveries on the beach, were only 
tricks of the imagination, which is apt to feign 
the existence of profound feelings where there 
is really only caprice, vague longings and de- 
lusions. 

Luis Portal came from Orense to pass a 
week at my house, and his society helped to 
quiet me down. We took such long walks and 
ate such quantities of bread and milk that 
healthy fatigue and country life did their work, 
preparing me to listen calmly and even assent 
to arguments like the following : 


294 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

“ What is taking place in you/’ Luis used to 
say when we were stretched out at the foot of 
a chestnut, where we had divided our lunch, 
is a phenomenon very common among us 
Spaniards. While we honestly believe that we 
are preparing for the future and longing for it, 
we live infatuated with the past, and are really 
the bitterest kind of traditionalists at bot- 
tom, although we call ourselves Republicans. 
What charms and attracts you in your Uncle 
Felipe’s wife is precisely that in which she is 
most in opposition to your ideas, your con- 
victions, and your manner of life as a man of 
the nineteenth century. 

“ You say that Senorita Aldao realizes the 
ideal of a Christian woman. Nonsense, my 
boy ! Will you kindly tell me what attract- 
iveness we can find in that ideal if we examine 
it carefully ? The ideal for us ought to be the 
woman of the present, or, better, of the future ; 
a woman who could understand us and share 
our aspirations. You will say that she does 
not exist. Then let us try to manufacture her. 
She will never exist if we condemn her before 
she is born. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


295 


What are the virtues which you attribute 
to your aunt, and which you admire so much ? 
In what do they consist ? They appear to me 
negative, irrational, brutal. Don’t start up in 
that way, — I said brutal. She has married a 
mart who is repulsive to her, given herself up 
to him like an automaton, and all for what ? 
In order not to sanction by her presence 
another person’s sins. Who can be held re- 
sponsible for anybody’s actions but his own ?■ 
That young lady is either demented or a stark 
fool ; and the friar who countenances her and 
seconds her, — well, I don’t care to say what I 
think of him, because my tongue would run 
away with me. He understands better than 
she does what she is binding herself to, and 
he ought to have prevented such a barbarous 
affair. I tell you that the little friar, — oh,, 
well, a friar will be a friar ; but we, who under- 
take to bring about social changes, must dif- 
ferentiate ourselves from him to some extent. 

“ A woman such as our modern society 
needs would go out to service, would take in 
sewing, or scrub floors, if she was not happy 
in her father’s house, if her self-respect was 


2g6 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

wounded, but she would never give up her lib- 
erty, her heart, and her person, to such a hus- 
band. You have caught the infection of Chris- 
tianity. You must get rid of it. A perfect 
Christian woman ! And why is it that you are 
charmed by a perfect Christian woman ? Are 
you, perchance, a perfect Christian man ? Do 
you aspire to be one ? Or do you believe that 
the destined progress of society depends upon 
the wife being a Christian and the husband a 
rationalist ? 

“ Salustio, wake up, for you are dreaming. 
Are you really going to fall in love with a 
woman, because her ideas are contrary to 
yours in almost every ’ respect ? Well, sup- 
pose she were single, and you should marry 
her, and that she should keep burning the 
torch of faith, — and — well — I would not give 
a fig for it all. Leave her to your uncle, she 
is just the thing for him. They’ll make a fine 
couple. But for you ! My boy, cure your- 
self of romanticism and Christianity. That 
does not mean that you should not make love 
to your auntie ; but do it in a human way, 
without any high tragedy business. If you 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

like her, go on ! That is, so long as you are 
careful to avoid family dramas. Leave the 
dramas for the Teatro Real ; even there the 
greater part of them are senseless. Well, you 
understand me, no dramas. But if you dare to 
tell me any more tales about Christian women 
and Jewish men. I’ll give you a dose of 
bromide. , And, above all things, grind away at 
your studies. I shall not waste any time next 
year, even if Venus herself should come and 
be sweet on me.” 

Portal’s sensible remarks did not fail to 
influence me greatly. At least they made me 
ponder on the problem of my wild enthusiasm. 
It was true that my aunt’s ideas and feel- 
ings were radically opposed to mine ; I did 
not believe at all in what she venerated as 
dogma ; her ideas of morality differed from 
mine ; the word duty had a meaning for her 
different from the one I put upon it ; but, 
nevertheless, that very difference of ideals 
attracted me toward her, in the same manner 
that a white man is sometimes charmed by the 
olive hue of a mulatto, or a passionate gypsy 
woman by the golden hair of an Englishman* 


298 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

Was Portal right in saying that we knew no 
woman suited to us, and that we ought to 
search for one, to fashion her in our own im- 
age, so that she might comprehend us, and 
her brain work in unison with ours ? Or; on 
the contrary, was a piquant unlikeness of souls 
a greater attraction, and the having in one’s 
own soul hidden chambers, like Blue Beard’s, 
where a wife would never be able to enter? 
Why did I exalt that woman, seeing in her a 
perfect type ‘of womanhood ? Why did her 
self-sacrifice, which would have appeared so 
absurd in me, seem so sublime in her ? 

“ Luis is right on one subject,” I definitely 
decided ; we must devote our minds to our 
books ; a drama in one’s own life is an enemy 
of study.” 

In fact, I took up my books in order to 
take advantage of the leisure of vacation time 
to do a little reviewing, and when I tried to 
concentrate my mind on inflexible mathe- 
matics, a fearful battle raged in my brain, 
which I used to call, in my private dialect, the 
war between straight lines and curved. The 
straight lines were the equations, the poly- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


299 


nomials, the theorems, the problems connected 
with the cutting of angles, and other such 
demoniacal puzzles ; while the curved lines 
stood for amorous reveries, hatred of Jews, 
and all the troublesome ebullitions of my 
youthful fancy. At first the curved lines had 
the best of it, but the superior tactics and pre- 
cision of the straight lines finally routed that 
undisciplined army, which, in the utmost confu- 
sion, retreated toward the heart, its last refuge. 

The vacation was drawing to a close, when 
we had an unexpected visitor. The irrepress- 
ible Serafin made his appearance without any 
signs of bitterness or ill-will, lazy and good- 
natured as a little dog, and took up his abode 
at Ullosa. I could not recollect that I had 
ever given him any invitation, and my mother 
was sure that she had not. We made the 
best of the situation, and from the first day 
my mother devoted him to trimming out the 
vines on the arbors, picking fruit, and feeding 
the chickens — tasks which he performed with 
the greatest pleasure. When we talked by 
ourselves, instead of displaying the slightest 
resentmient, he embraced me warmly. 


300 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 

“Don’t you know?” he asked, affection- 
ately; “as soon as you left, I untied myself. 
If they had caught me in such a fix, tied up, 
a nice time we should have had ! What a 
joke ! It was not right to watch them ; but 
it was jolly fun. The wine was to blame for 
it all. The married couple went off to Pon- 
tevedra that very afternoon. Now they are 
showing themselves off there. The Saint com- 
plimented them by a grand dinner at Naran- 
jal ; they served up fried brains of taxpayers 
and pickled client’s leg. They had nougat for 
desert — as your uncle’s house is already rented 
for the post-office. Hey? He, he, he! Senor 
Aldao has obtained some cross or other, and 
is now called ‘Your Excellency.! And you 
don’t know the best of it. Haven’t you heard 
about the irrision, — I mean procession, — in 
honor of the Virgin ? I was amazed that 
fire from heaven did not fall upon it, as was 
said — Pluit super Sodoinam et Gomorrham sul- 
phur et ignem a domino de coelo. If you could 
have seen that masquerade ! There was Don 
Vicente carrying the standard ; Pimentel, very 
stuck up, with his white cravat ; your uncle 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


301 


carrying a lighted taper, with a face which 
looked like mortal sin ; behind him all the po- 
litical hangers-on, grasping tapers — they who 
never thought they would do such a thing! 
Then came the fellows with leggins, the sec- 
retaries to the Common Council, with white 
ruffles round their knees ; all the mayors, 
and all the judges, and all the registrars, and 
all the supernumeraries. Oh, why didn’t you 
go to Pontevedra that day ? We wont have 
another such in twenty years to come. Even 
the newspaper men and the masons carried 
tapers. I assure you it is true. And after- 
ward El Teucrense called the procession a 
festival. What is a festival? Like a satur- 
nalia, I presume.” 

Afterward, lowering his voice, he added ; 

“ There was a bishop there also, gaping away, 
and not out of devotion to the Virgin, either, 
but for the sake of the great saint with the fat 
offices. But don’t feel shocked at that. Nes- 
torius was bishop of Constantinople. And 
who promoted the schism of that big hog of a 
king of England but another pig of a heretical 
bishop, who was called Mmor or Cr enter ! 


302 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 

Don’t talk to me about bishops. The Church 
will have to be reformed by the Pope and us 
clergy alone — no, I mean the clergy’s appren- 
tices and a few laymen with grievances — no 
matter what the Encyclical, cum multa, says.” 

I assured him that I did not know what that 
Encyclical said, and then asked him, as though 
by chance, after Candidina. 

‘‘A nice girl she is! He, he, he! She is 
there all alone with the old man, now. She’ll 
drive him distracted.” 

He also spoke of Father Moreno, and I 
learned that the Moorish friar intended to 
spend a few days at Ullosa as soon as he had 
finished taking his sea-baths. 

In fact, the Father arrived a few days later, 
covered with dust from his long ride in the 
diligence. My mother, who was very fond of 
him, received him quite coldly at first ; she 
could not forgive him for having officiated at 
the marriage. But I overwhelmed him with 
polite attentions. I should have liked to be 
able to say to Aben Jusuf : 

“ My delirium has passed away. The senti- 
mental fever has abated. If you only knew. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 305 

Father, how well I feel now. Just like a per- 
son who uses an anaesthetic to cure his neural- 
gia, and does cure it. My neuralgia, or lover's 
toothache, no longer exists. It seems impos- 
sible that I am the same one who almost broke 
his neck falling off a tree, lowered his dignity 
by playing the spy on a certain wedding night, 
wanted to throw himself into the sea, and 
begged a novitiate’s habit of you. Here you 
see a well-behaved young man, a student of 
engineering, and the son of Benigna Unceta, 
who, as you know, is a very practical lady. I 
am now sound and whole.” 

If not exactly this, it was something very 
similar that I said to him in the course of a 
ramble over the mountains. I recollect that 
he seemed well pleased, and answered as fol- 
lows : 

“ I am indeed glad to hear it, but don’t be 
too sure. These heart fevers do not go on as 
they begin ; but the Lord help us, if you get 
a relapse. And it’s our fault if we have a re- 
lapse, because we go near the fire. In that 
lottery, they give prizes to the nearest num- 
bers. Don’t you get near. Keep at a respect* 1 


304 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

ful distance. Establish a sanitary cordon. If 
you do not do so, I shall not consider you a 
man of honor.” 

Mutatis mutandis, so Father Moreno ex- 
pressed his opinions. After her momentary 
annoyance, my mother, whose heart is as good 
as gold and who is very hospitabje, showered 
attentions on the Father, and insisted on feed- 
ing him at all hours of the day, until finally 
the friar, with a comical air, rose in revolt : 

No more chicken, not even if you cut me 
in pieces ! Not a morsel 'more ! What a 
woman ! Hard-hearted creature, do you want 
me to burst on the spot? You may wear as 
big a bustle as you choose, madam, but I must 
control the bulging of my own stomach.” 

But her exaggerated gastronomical entertain- 
ment of the friar did not last long, for he went 
off to his monastery after the two days, leaving 
a great void behind him. His vacation was 
over, and the leave of absence granted by his 
Superior in order that he might take sea-baths 
and recruit his health ; so the Moor in a friar’s 
garb meekly wended his way back to his 
I gloomy retreat in Compostela, where the walls. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 305 

were covered with dampness, and a green 
moisture was visible on the window-sills and 
the cracks of the masonry. In spite of the 
hearty manner in which he assured me that he 
was willing to fulfill his obligations, I could 
see that that Spaniard, who was half Saracen, 
so fond of the warmth of Africa, must suffer 
keenly both in mind and body on being ban- 
ished to such a damp and dreary region. 

I saw him march away to his exile, recalling 
with amazement that I had envied him his 
garb, and even the vows which bound him. 

I surely must have been sick with a sort of 
psycalgia^ or moral neurosis, this summer, and 
now that I am convalescent I perceive it. 

During the few days before my return to 
Madrid, as we had no guests or particular 
amusements, I buried myself in the reading of 
two or three interesting books, works on phil- 
osophy, among them Kant’s Critique of Pure 
Reason.” Exempt as it is, in my judgment, 
from all flow of mere sentiment and mislead- 
ing hallucinations, I read it with the purest 
delight ; my mind, already disciplined by the 
study of mathematics, fairly absorbing the 


3 o 6 a CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

teaching of the philosopher. I felt the re- 
» jnotest cells of my brain penetrated, in gentle 
firmness, by those truths of criticism, which, 
far from leading us to skeptical negations, fill 
us with a serene conviction of the uselessness 
of our endeavors to become acquainted with 
the external world, and shut us up in the be- 
neficent selfishness of the study of our own 
faculties. 

When, after reading Kant, I would roam 
through the meadows, the groves, the modest 
belongings of our patrimonial estate, and the 
peace of twilight would sink into my spirit, I 
would find myself feeling happy ; completely 
cured of my folly ; shut up to the straight line. 
“ Understand, and you will be free,” I repeated 
to myself, with youthful pride. 


CHAPTER XX. 

As I left the train at the northern station ia 
Madrid, the first thing I saw was the red 
beard and strongly marked features of my 
Uncle Felipe, who shook hands with me and 
called a porter to take my trunk. Then he 
got into a carriage with me and gave the 
driver the number of his house. 

Are we not going to my boarding-house.?’*’ 
I inquired with surprise. 

You’ll see,” replied the Hebrew, with that 
hesitation in speaking, and that peculiar con- 
traction of his features, which always accom- 
panied in him a manifestation of avarice. “ It 
is all nonsense that you should stay at a 
boarding-house, when you have relatives here. 
I have a spare room in my house, which no- 
body uses now. We used to keep some old 
things there. It is a cheerful room, and large 
enough. You will be better off than in the 
boarding-h5use, my boy. And for your 
studies, as quiet as you could wish.” 

307 


3 o 8 a CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

I understood his. meanness at once. It 
•would cost him more to pay for my board, 
however cheap it might be, than to lodge me 
in his own house. But I there ! I cannot ex- 
plain the singular effect the idea produced 
upon me at first. However, I exclaimed : 

“ I am quite sure that my aunt will not ap- 
prove of my taking up my abode at your 
house.” 

“ ril tell you,” answered the husband. “ At 
first she had an idea that for your purposes 
the boarding-house would be better. She was 
quite strenuous about it. But I have con- 
vinced her, and now she does not object at 
all.” 

I kept silent. I was feeling the disagreeable 
impression one experiences on leaving a warm 
atmosphere for a current of cold air which 
whips one’s face. My life at Ullosa had been 
a parenthesis, a pleasant rest, a sort of agree- 
able sleepiness, and that rude summons to the 
outside world, to its agitations and changes, 
just as I was about to take up my studies 
again, and when I needed all my power of 
mind and will for my difficult tasks, fairly 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 309 

bewildered me. Nevertheless, youth is so 
fond of peril, the surf, and the tempest, that I 
felt a thrill of pleasure when my uncle rang 
the electric bell, and the door opened behind 
which was Carmen Aldao. 

With what agitation I greeted her ! All 
my blood rushed to my heart, and I perceived 
the symptoms of the ancient flame,” as Dante 
says in speaking of his encounter with Bea- 
trice. My uncle’s wife received me with pro- 
priety, displaying neither coldness nor exces- 
sive cordiality. Fulfilling her duties as mis- 
tress of the house, she led me to my room, 
found out what I needed, showed me where 
I could keep my clothing and books, and gave 
me some practical advice about making the 
most of the four walls. 

“ Here you can put your ruffled shirts. 
You can hang your cloak on this hook. The 
table you will have here, near the window, 
where you can study better. Look, here is 
your wash-stand. Always keep the towels 
here. I got this lamp with a green shade for 
you, so that you might not spoil your eyes.” 

While she went on explaining all about 


310 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 

those details, I looked at her with such eager- 
ness that I fairly drank in her features and fed 
upon her beloved face. What I was trying to 
discover, when I scrutinized her, was that rev- 
elation which, to a close observer, is stamped 
on every married woman’s face, and which 
might be called the running account of happi- 
ness. No, no, she was not happy. The dark 
circles under her eyes did not betray feverish 
love, but hidden sorrow. Her mouth had a 
set expression, like that of all who wrestle in 
secret to mortify the flesh or the mind. Her 
temples were slightly faded. Her waist was 
flatter; it had not acquired the graceful and 
impressive roundness which is perceptible in 
women after a few months of married life, 
even if they do not become mothers. . No, she 
was not happy ! How my fancy took this 
supposition for a foundation, and built upon 
it ! It was not long, however, before I be- 
came habituated to living at Carmen’s, and 
my stay there appeared less dangerous to me 
than at first. Proximity is always an incen- 
tive, but dwelling under the same roof does 
away with all dramatic interest and novelty, 


A ClfR/STIAN- WOMAN. 3 ^^ 

with its commonplace meetings, and this per- 
haps diminishes the danger. 

Although the last years of the course in en- 
gineering are not nearly so absorbing as the 
first, and the difficulties lessen as one ascends 
the steep hill of knowledge, I had to study 
enough to occupy all my available time. Car- 
men’s life ran on so far removed from mine 
that although we were under the same roof 
we scarcely ever met, except at the customary 
hours. In the morning we both went out, I to 
my classes and she to do her marketing and 
to spend a long time in church. At luncheon 
I would notice in Carmen a certain animation 
and strange satisfaction. She had found com- 
fort in the Church ; that was evident. My 
uncle also, contented and talkative, in slippers 
and without a cravat, would chat with me, 
would question me, and comment on the 
events of the night before, his dialogues in 
the house and in the lobbies with Don Vicente 
Sotopena on the political prospect, the insinu- 
ations of the newspapers, the last confidential 
conversation of the Queen Regent with the 
Austrian Minister, which had been reported in 


312 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


the Casino by a person who knew all about it. 

I seemed to excite the loquacity of the 
newly-married couple, as Carmen, in her turn, 
would tell me all the gossip of Pontevedra ; the 
simple tales her friends would write to her; as 
well as a thousand details regarding the neigh- 
bors on the first floor and on the floor above, 
whom she used to visit evenings, according to 
the prevalent fashion in Madrid among the 
middle classes, who improvise every evening a 
neighborhood party. 

In the afternoon my uncle would go out, 
sometimes alone, and sometimes with his wife. 
I employed my time in studying or in roaming 
around with Luis, and so we would not see 
each other until dinner time. This was a 
more melancholy affair than luncheon ; my 
aunt would be nervous or excited, or depressed 
or absent-minded, without being able to dis- 
guise it. In the evening she would go up to 
visit her neighbors, or would do some fancy- 
work by the fireside, and my uncle would take 
me out, sometimes to some small theater. So 
there was no danger there. My close confine- 
ment to my studies saved me from the sugges- 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 313 

tions of idleness. The devil did not know 
when to tempt me. 

You may easily surmise to whom I used to 
unbosom myself. What are sensible and dis- 
creet people like Portal put into the world for, 
except to listen to the confidential disclosures 
of lunatics ? I believe that my greatest in- 
ducement to make a full confession to him 
was the very fact of the irritation with which 
Portal would listen to me. His harsh cen- 
sures were like strokes of the lash or sword 
thrusts which stimulated me, making me re- 
flect on my situation, and scratch deeper down 
there in the corners of my spirit. 

“ My boy,” said my sedate friend one day,. 
“ I have discovered now what ails you. I 
know the medicine for your disease. Take 
my advice, and you will be well in a quarter 
of an hour. Your trouble has this technical 
name : repressed ardor of youth. And the 
remedy, — guess what the name of that is ? It 
is named Belen.” 

“ Bel^n ? ” 

“ What ? Have you forgotten her already? 
Bel^n, that houri with radiant black eyes, who 


V 


314 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

t 

used to paste little angels on cardboard boxes? 
So you had forgotten all about her ? Degen- 
erate one ! Well, I have followed the trail. 
Old fellow, a magic transformation has oc- 
curred. You shall behold that creature now 
at her apogee. She does not drive in her own 
carriage yet, but she will do so in time.” 

“ Is that so ? Has she found a £^ran Paga- 
7iini? ” I asked, without the slightest interest. 

“ I wont tell you anything, so that you may 
judge for yourself. You will be amazed.” 

A few days later my friend conducted me to 
a fine dwelling in a street both central and re- 
tired at the same time. The porch was re- 
spectable, the staircase broad and light, and 
the door of the second story, at which we 
knocked, had a remarkably serious and discreet 
air, with its hinges and knobs all shining. 

A middle-aged woman, half servant, half 
housekeeper, dressed in black, opened the 
door, and, as soon as Luis spoke, invited us 
into the parlor, saying that she would tell 
“ the Seftora.” 

“Well, what do you think of this?” ex- 
claimed my friend. “ ‘ The Senora ’ up-stairs. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 315 

and ‘ the Senora ’ down-stairs. Chairs uphol- 
stored in wool, color yellow, — mirror with a 
rosewood frame, — a good moquette carpet, — 
fine jute curtains, — two bronze and porcelain 
vases, — a lamp with an umbrella shade. It 
appears the stock-broker is not close-fisted.” 

“ Why, my dear fellow, what a change ! ” 

“ You shall see. The times are changed ; 
still, this transformation was to be expected. 
The girl got tired of decorating cornucopias 
with orange blossoms ; but at that time she 
had nothing better than your skinflint of an 
uncle, who made her account for every penny 
she spent when he gave her money for sweets 
meats. Consequently, when the worthy Don 
Telesforo Arminon made his appearance, ready 
to relieve her distress, you may imagine what 
followed. The girl thought the heavens had 
opened. The first thing that the poor crea- 
ture asked for was a pair of shoes ; those your 
uncle kept her in were all burst out. You 
know that in Madrid their footgear is what 
drives them crazy. Now she wears such beauti- 
ful shoes !” Here Portal launched a kiss into 
the air. “ There she comes. Stop laughing! 


3 i 6 a CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

We heard a rustling of skirts. Belen made 
a dignified entrance. It was true ; no one 
could have recognized her in that disguise. 
Her hair was dressed in the classic mode^ 
fashion of a lady. She had on a straw-colored 
velvet wrapper, and in her ears gleamed dia- 
mond ear-rings. She also wore rings on her 
hands, now well-cared for ; and as she walked 
along, we caught a glimpse of the famous little 
shoes, high-heeled, narrow, of dark satin, her 
apple of perdition. 

She seemed stouter, her movements quieter 
and more languid, her complexion even fairer 
and fresher than before, comparable only to 
the satin luster of a magnolia leaf. 

“Have we come at an unsuitable hour?” 
asked Portal. 

Before answering, Bel^n fixed her eyes upon 
me ; she almost screamed with joy. 

“ Ah, so the prodigal is found ! Is it really 
you, you scamp ? I only had the pleasure of 
meeting you once, and then you vanished like 
smoke. So you have been away for the sum- 
mer ? Well, the rest of us have stayed here and 
put up with the heat and scorching. But how 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 317 

long have you been here ? ” she added, assum- 
ing a still more familiar tone. 

“ He arrived two days ago,” broke in Portal, 
“ and has been sighing ever since to see such 
a nice girl as you. He would hardly let me 
live with his, ‘ Come, let’s go and call on Beldn. 
Although, as she is now such a fine lady, per- 
haps she’ll not pay any attention to us poor 
students. But I shall get sick if I don’t see 
her. I shall have an attack of something — ’ ” 

“ Get out, you fraud ! ” said the beauty, fixing 
on me her proud and penetrating eyes with an 
ardent, yet humble look. “ He did not re- 
member me at all, nor want to — not a bit. 
Since the day of our frolic, if I have met you, 
I don’t remember about it. And I — well what 
can a girl do? Your uncle never wasted much 
on me. What a skin-flint he is ! They say 
that he is married. A nice time his wife will 
have! Well, I am comfortable now; what 
they call comfortable. This one is of a differ- 
ent breed. Look,” she added, without giving 
us time to sit down. “ Come and see my little 
house, it is so nice. It has a boudoir with a 
grate, and all that. We have no fire to-day 


\ 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


318 

because it is not cold yet, do you see? But I 
am going to tell them to light one now. See ? 
You pass through this way to the dining-room ; 
it is small, but very comfortable ; and, besides, 
we have a beautiful kitchen and a room for 
trunks. Go back this way. Here I have a 
nice bedroom.” 

“My child,” said Portal, to tease her, “you 
can’t convince me. You have only changed 
an open skin-flint for a hypocritical one. Ar- 
minon has more dollars than the sands of the 
sea, and yet he has not bought you a coach 
nor given you furniture upholstered in silk. 
Don’t tell me how generous he is ! He owes 
you a satin divan and a carriage drawn by an 
English mare, as much as I owe my life to my 
father. The Sevillana and Concha Rios go 
about in their carriages dressed like two queens. 
What good dq your beautiful dresses and 
diamond ear-rings do you if you can’t go to the 
Retiro to display them ? ” 

“ Stop I stop ! don’t talk to me about 
coaches, it makes me sick ! ” answered the fair 
sinner, greatly annoyed, in spite of herself, by 
that about the carriage. “ Do you believe if I 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 319 

were to ask him for a coach he would refuse 
me ? But I shall not ask for it. I have too 
much self-respect, do you know ? When I see 
decent people so different from your Judas 
Iscariot uncle — my dear fellow, what a creat- 
ure he is ! He cannot be your real uncle. 

Perhaps your grandmother ” 

Afterward she drew us the likeness of her 
stockbroker. 

“ The best thing about him is that he comes 
very seldom to see me. And never until after 
the stock exchange is closed. And some days 
he doesn’t appear at all. To-day, for example. 
He sent me word, and that’s the reason I am 
taking things so easy.” 

“ But if he should take it into his head to 
make his appearance here suddenly ? ” 

“ What a difficulty ! I would not open the 
door. He has no latch-key. I assure you 
there is nobody like him, he is so good. If I 
were to say ‘ a carriage,’ he would answer ‘ with 
six horses.’ Well, if he comes, I’ll tell him in 
the morning that I went out with Fausta to 
see my mother and Cinta, and he’ll believe it 
implicitly.” 


320 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

“And how are they?” inquired Portal. 

“ Who, my mother and the other one ? Well, 
my boy, they are unbearable. If you should 
give them a silver mine they would ask for a 
gold one. I try all the time to shake them off, 
for they are like leeches ; and how they bleed 
me ! And will you believe it, Cinta has taken 
it upon herself to preach to me and to say that 
before she would subject herself to any man 
for money she would work and make an hon- 
est living. She wants to become a singer in 
comic opera. The trouble is, she will have to 
learn how first. But I have persuaded my gen- 
tleman to rent a piano and pay for a teacher 
for me, and the girl may come here to take 
her lessons. One must squeeze the lemon. 
What is a rich man, good for, say I, if not for 
that? Well, my boy, you must stay here to- 
day, and do penance in this house. You’ll see 
what an elegant dinner service and what beauti- 
ful silver I have ; that is to say, plated, for 
there is no use in exposing one’s self to being 
robbed. I’ll put on my nice silk dress, which 
he gave me a short time ago on his birthday. 
Nonsense ! I want you to see me in my 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 321 * 

finery. I’ll wear my watch. It does not go 
well, but it is gold. Luisillo may go off if he 
wants to, but you must stay here ! ” 

A few days after the call on Bel^n, as Luis 
and I were walking through Recoletos, my 
friend said, half in earnest, half in jest : 

“ All rogues are fortunate. That Bel6n is 
crazy over you ; I never saw so capricious a 
woman. I had to give her some good advice 
yesterday, lest she should send off her stock- 
broker and go back to live in a garret in order 
to be able to receive you whenever she pleases 
and with perfect freedom. I have told her to 
hold on to him until she finds another who is 
more generous and can give her a carriage and 
solid silver instead of plated ware. How I did 
preach to her! Never a mission preacher did 
better. But you are such a lucky dog I 
What a fancy that girl has taken to you. And 
yet you don’t feel contented. You are still 
wool gathering. If I cut you off a chicken’s 
wing ” 

Cut me off what you please, my dear fel- 
low,” I answered, frankly, revealing my disen- 
chantment in a heavy sigh. “ There are higher 


32 2 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

pleasures in the world than mere physical grat- 
ification. If you push me hard, I will tell you 
that matter does not exist — that it is a myth ; 
only an idea, and nothing more. Two mo- 
ments after taking leave of Bel^n, I forget 
even that there is such a woman in the world. 
I leave her house feeling penitent and more of 
a spiritualist than the devil.” 

“ I can’t bear to hear you say such stupidi- 
ties,” cried Portal, furiously. “ What do I care 
for your ideas, or your spiritualism, or your 
pumpkins ! Why, where will you find another 
treasure like Bel^n ? For you, B’el^n is the first 
prize. The trouble is that they have bewitched 
you at that cursed house of your uncle’s. The 
atmosphere of dullness and hypocrisy which 
surrounds you there is wasting away your spirit 
little by little. Why don’t you come to live 
at my boarding-h'ouse. I’d like to know? You 
would be like a fish in deep water there. We 
would drive the blues out of you in short 
order. Trinito is more amusing than ever, this 
year. Will you believe it, he not only sings 
us all the operas but all that he hears at the 
concerts in the Romero Salon as well. He 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 323 

fills our ears with Lohengrin,” Tannhauser,” 
and “ Parsifal,” till we can hardly stand it any 
longer. And the best of it is that he intends 
to become a musical critic. We came near 
throwing the coffee-pot at him yesterday, for 
he nearly split our ears with the “ Rhinegold.” 
Come, my dear fellow, come with us.” 

“ I may be as simple as you choose, Luis, 
but I can’t bear that girl. I know that she is 
handsome, that she likes me, and all that; but 
it makes no difference to me. Let us see 
whether you, who did up this package, can 
undo it quickly. First you know. I’ll be tell- 
ing her to her face that I hate her, which 
would be needless cruelty. No, no, I shall have 
nothing to do with it. Vice and folly may 
amuse us for a while, but they finally fill us 
with loathing.” 

“You simpleton, how do you make out your 
vice and folly? Why, Bel^n is a treasure for 
you. She sincerely likes you. She would 
give up her satin boots and plated ware for 
your sake. Bel^n has a heart, while your 
aunt has none ; at least, none for you. A fig 
for your virtuous women ! I hate them. A 


324 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

plaster cast is more virtuous than they are, for 
it neither feels nor suffers.” 

What do you know about it,” I murmured, 
allowing my hopes to run wild in spite of my- 
self. “ How can you be sure that her heart 
may not be for me You are too positive. 
Suppose it should turn out to be for me ? ” 

Portal suddenly became preoccupied and 
serious. He knit his brow, and said to me in 
a slightly agitated voice : 

“ Heaven grant that it may not ! I have 
pondered on that subject, and I swear^to you 
that the best thing that can befall you is that 
such an event may never occur. Do you hear 
me? You are a lunatic, fit for the straight- 
jacket, and you’ll fetch up in Don Ezquerdo’s 
hands. Suppose that your aunt should really 
care for you, that the heart you prate about 
should be manifested as you think it may be. 
Well, after it had done so, and you had got to 
loving each other deeply, oh, immensely, like 
Francesca and Paolo, what would you do then, 
you hopeless stupid? Let us hear it. Unfold 
your loving programme. Would you elope 
with her? Would you hire an apartment for 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 325 

her? Would you desecrate your uncle’s home 
without any scruple ? Answer, you gawk ! ” 

His friendly interest in me blinded and 
irritated him. His protruding eyes stared at 
me angrily, as though gazing at a naughty boy 
who was about to cut his fingers playing with 
a knife. 

“ I don’t know what to answer, old chap,” I 
answered, meekly. “ What I do know is that I 
should be happy, do you hear me ? com- 
pletely happy, if that angelic being should 
love me. Oh, if she would love me ! I would 
ask no more. I would leave her, I would go 
off to the North Pole, if only I could be sure 
of her love. That is what I hope for and 
what I live for. I respect her like a saint, — 
but I want her to love me, to love me.” 

“ To love me, to love me ! ” chanted Portal, 
mimicking my voice and manner. “ Why, it 
is the most senseless folly, by Jupiter, and I 
can’t stand yout talking so. It is needless to 
add that I don’t speak in this manner out of 
any fantastic regard for morality or inflated 
consideration for home. Pshaw ! As for 
morality, let everybody settle that question 


326 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 

for himself. Home ! that is a worn-out insti- 
tution nowadays, and the one who does most 
to scuttle it is most deserving of reward from 
his countrymen. It is not that, by Jove! 
But it is a question of advantage, — your own 
advantage. You are losing your mind, and 
will waste a year’s time in your studies, and 
all for what.? For a figment of your imagina- 
tion ! At our age we all dream about women, 
and it is natural enough that we should ; but 
we ought to dream about a woman of our own 
make and not about the very one who would 
make us unhappy if we were to be united to 
her. Grant that your aunt is very good, very 
pure and saintly 1 Her goodness is only pas- 
sive — submission to her destiny, a moral rou- 
tine, my boy — and that’s the end of it, that’s 
the endi If you were married to Carmen, you 
would act just as your uncle does ; you would 
not talk to her at table, and would leave her 
alone as much as possible, because you would 
not understand her, neither would she under- 
stand you, and you would not be able to 
endure each other. A more complete divorce 
of soul would never have been seen before. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 327 

Believe me, and don’t indulge in stupid illu- 
sions. Could you become an intimate friend 
of a neo-Catholic, without culture and full of 
prejudice ? Well, neither could you be a 
friend to your wife. And what you consider a 
virtue in her, would surely appear to you like 
affectation in the neo-Catholic.’* 

“ But,” I exclaimed, “ how dare you deny the 
heroism of a woman, who, in order not to coun- 
tenance her father’s indecencies, sacrifices her 
youth, and marries a man whom she cannot 
love ? We have already discussed this subject, 
and I feel indignant that you do not appre- 
ciate the merit of her sacrifice.” 

“ Why, that’s just it ! that’s just it ! ” vo- 
ciferated Portal, beside himself. “ I will twist 
the argument around : how dare you charac- 
terize as virtuous the action of a woman who 
accepts a repulsive husband, and does not pre- 
fer to sing in a theater, like Cinta, or scrub 
floors like the scullion who waits on us at 
Dona Jesusa’s? Why, what difference is 
there between your ideal angel and Bel^n,. 
for instance ? Belen puts up with her hateful 
protector, because it is for her interest to do 


328 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


SO, in that she eats and spends and has a fine 

time. And that fine lady, your aunt ” 

“ Keep still, keep still ! ” I cried, getting 
excited in my turn. “If you say another word 
about that I shall believe that you are a 
worthless scamp, and will give you a beating, 
as sure as my name is Salustio. Don’t you 
dare to mention Carmina in the same breath 
with Bel^n. Don’t you enrage me ! ” 

“You are the one seeking a quarrel, you 

fag-end of ” 

“ Take care what you say ! ” 

“ Oh, well, you leave me alone — ” 

“You leave me alone, that’s all I want — ” 
And so forth. I do not add another detail, 
for the discreet reader will easily imagine what 
two good friends in a passion would say to 
each other. For two weeks I did not see 
Luis. The truth is, it seemed as though I 
had lost something, the practical reason of 
my life, the Sancho who used to moderate my 
quixotic flights. I did not know myself with- 
out his observations, his jests, his anger, and 
his preachings. At the hour when I used to 
go to his boarding-house in search of him, I 




A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 329 

would feel discontented and uneasy, and even 
homesick. I missed the habit which had 
become second nature — the pleasant, friendly 
intercourse, the intellectual friction, the dis- 
putes even. There were days when I actually 
thought that his old friendship was more to 
me than my lover’s dream. “ Confound it,” 
I said to myself, “ I did not know that he 
was so necessary to me. But the fact is I am 
not myself without him. No, indeed, I am 
not. But I will not give in. Let him come 
to me, if he wants to.” 

Finally he did come, proving once more 
that he represented, in our friendship, good 
common sense, or whatever you may like to 
call that modest and pleasant quality which 
does not allow us to go beyond bounds, and 
teaches us not to make life bitter by foolish 
obstinacy or dramatic fastidiousness. Our 
reconciliation was effected in the most natu- 
ral manner. One morning, as we were coming 
out of recitation, Portal nudged my elbow, 
and asked with a smile : 

‘‘ Has the trouble gone away ? Shall we 
make a treaty of peace ? ” 


330 A CHRISTIAN- WOMAN. 

I confess that I embraced him with all my 
heart, stammering: 

Luisino, my dear fellow ! ” 

But he laughed, and said : 

Oh, stop it, you foolish boy ; you act as 
though you had just returned from America 
after twenty years of exile.” 

We went off arm-in-arm, and chatted more 
than ever that afternoon. 

‘‘ I will no longer oppose you,” said my 
friend with a comic air of resignation. “You 
may fall as deeply in love as an African drome- 
dary or as Marsilla did with the fellow from 
Teruel, and I will not try to stop the current. 
You will have to convince yourself of the folly 
of your illusions. In order to be happy we 
need well-informed women, who think as we 
do and can understand us. Well, I believe 
that it is so ; but you have got it into your 
skull that we ought to have wives like the la- 
dies of the thirteenth century, or the Gothic 
saints painted on a golden background. All 
right, go ahead! You will find out your mis- 
take. Aside from the fact that your aunt — 
well, my boy, don’t depend on that. The 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 33 1 

Struggle against fate will wear you out. 
There, now, don’t begin to fume. Tell me 
how your love affair progresses ; unburden 
that dear little heart.” 

Luis,” I murmured, mysteriously, “ I don’t 
know whether she Joves me or not ; but I am 
certain of one thing — mark my words! Her 
husband is hateful to her.” 

^‘That proves her good taste.” 

“ I am not mistaken ; no, indeed ! I observe 
her closely, Luisino. The poor girl has lost 
her color and her appetite. In the morning, 
when she goes to church, and, above all, on the 
days when she communes, she appears to be 
somewhat tranquil ; but at night ! Oh dear, 
I believe she has the intermittent repug- 
nance 1 ” 

“ But her husband ? Does he amuse himself 
elsewhere ? ” 

“ I don’t think so. He goes to bed at a 
reasonable hour, even though he may go out 
to hold a conference with Sotopena or to the 
club. He does not attempt to see Belen ; she 
says so. My uncle is close-fisted, as you know 
very well, and on the score of economy is 


332 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


capable of being contented at home. Luis, I 
don’t say much, but it consoles me to see that 
she is sad and is suffering.” 

“ A nice consolation that is ! Perhaps you 
are wrong, and that woman gets on with her 
husband perfectly.” 

“ If I were to see her cooing like a turtle-dove 
with him, I don’t know what would happen to 
me.” 

‘‘ Why, that maggot would quit your brain. 
May the Old Nick get you ! ” 

This conversation took place as we were 
leaving Mayor Street and were entering the 
famous Viaduct, or place for suicides. The 
quiet beauty of the afternoon tempted us to 
go up to the high iron grating and enjoy the 
view, perhaps the finest in Madrid. 

Without stopping to look over the old 
books, text-books mostly, the greater part of 
them greasy and falling to pieces, which an old 
man who looked like a maniac had for sale in 
the open air and right on the ground, we put 
our faces close to the grating and delighted 
our eyes first with the glorious panorama on 
the left, the red palace of Uceda, with its 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


333 


white shields tenanted by fierce lions, — the 
thousand cupolas and domes of churches and 
houses, above which rose, elegant as a palm- 
tree, the Moorish tower of San Pedro. Then 
we turned to the right, enchanted with the '' 
fresh verdure of the garden, which stretched 
out far below us like a rug of pine trees and 
flowery shrubs. Far in the distance, the Man- 
zanares traced a silver S upon the green mead- 
ows, and the Guaddrrama reared its shining 
white line behind the hard, sharp outlines of 
the nearest ridges. But what fascinated us, the 
sublimest note of all, was Segovia Street at a 
fearful depth below us; down, down, down! 
Luis' clutched my wrist, saying : 

“ My boy, this viaduct explains clearly the 
numerous suicides which have occurred on it.” 

“ It does, indeed, tempt one to throw him- 
self over,” I replied, without ceasing to look 
down into that paved abyss, and already feel- 
ing in the soles of my feet the tingling that 
goes with dizziness. 

“ Look at that suicide, my dear boy,” sud- 
denly exclaimed Portal, pointing to a man of 
squalid appearance, who was also leaning over 


334 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


the railing. “ A man like that is liable to fling 
himself over at any moment.” 

I approached the man out of curiosity. The 
supposititious suicide turned around. How 
long it was since I had seen his noble and 
expressive face, his dirty and tattered clothes, 
his black eyes and graceful bearing! Poor 
Botello ! I felt a singular and extraordinary 
joy at meeting that ineffectual being, that 
social residuum, so inoffensive and useless. 

“Were you going to commit suicide?” I 
asked, smilingly, after we had exchanged warm 
greetings and embraced each other. 

“ No, indeed,”, replied Pepita’s boarder ; “ I 
was only thinking, to pass away the time, how 
wise a thing I should do if I did throw my- 
self over headlong. That street with its hard 
stones was calling me loudly. There I might 
put an end to all trickery and poverty — don’t 
you know? Pepa has almost put me into the 
street. I scarcely ever smoke now. I still 
have a room where I can sleep, but that 
matter of eating is a luxury I am not ac- 
quainted with. The landlady is furious be- 
cause Don Julidn has vanished like smoke, and 


A CHRIST! A AT WOMAN. 


335 


will no longer maintain me. They have 
stopped my allowance. Will you treat to a 
beefsteak ? ” 

We went out to Bailen Street, and were not 
long in settling ourselves in an eating-house 
before some very appetizing broiled chops. 
The prodigal, in a melancholy tone, said 
to us : 

“ Some days I feel so desperate that I even 
think of going to work at something. But at 
what? Besides, that is a foolish idea, pro- 
duced by weakness or brandy. No, when I 
have a quarter in my pocket I wager it and 
win a hundred. I am not meant for the ig- 
nominy of working. Keep that for negroes. 
Besides, one can always find good friends, who 
wont refuse a fellow a dollar when he asks for 
it. Don’t think I live by cheating, boys ; 
cheating comes in when one promises to pay, 
and I never do anything so foolish as that. 
The man who loans me anything, makes me 
a present. 

“ Do you know what a trick Mauricio Parra 
and Pepe Vidal played on me during Car- 
nival ? Do you know them ? One is in the 


336 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

School of Architecture, the other in the 
School of Mines. They board at Pepe Urru- 
tia’s. Well, we had a boarder there, a fine- 
looking lady, a widow from Cdrdova, and a 
most attractive woman. I was making up to 
her a little. One night I heard that she was 

going to a masked ball at the Royal , and 

I without a cent ! 

“ But Mauricio and Pepe encouraged me, 
bought tickets, and went with me to the ball. 
Well, the masked lady came up to us. I recog- 
nized her at once. 

‘‘ ‘ I am thirsty,’ she said ; ‘ will you treat 
me ? Let us go to the supper-room.’ 

“ I saw the heavens opened before me, and 
the infernal regions at the same time, because 
I did not have a single penny. I put my hand 
behind me, and made signs to Mauricio and 
Pepe. I felt them put a coin in my hand. 
Heavens! What could it be? A dollar, 
without doubt, although it seemed somewhat 
smaller. I slipped it into my pocket without 
looking at it, and up I went as brave as a lion. 
She began to eat cakes and drink sherry, while 
I was trembling for fear the bill would amount 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 337 

to more than a dollar. It seemed as if the 
good lady would never stop gorging herself. 
At last she concluded to stop, and I took out 
the money from my pocket and gave it to the 
waiter with a lordly air, saying : 

“ ‘ Take out what I owe.’ 

“ ‘ Why, sir, you have given me a copper ! ’ 

“Well, you may imagine what a row there 
was. I thought they would march me straight 
off to the station-house. What a joke ! Well, 
that is the way I live, and always shall ; more 
dead broke to-day than yesterday, and to-mor- 
row more so than to-day. Of course, you 
must know that my Portuguese friend went 
home ; but I have found a provincial deputy in 
exchange, who has taken it into his head to be 
a dramatist ; and I go with him behind the 
scenes, because he fancies that I know the 
actresses and actors intimately. And in fact 
I do know them. Who does not get ^ ac- 
quainted with the whole human race in Ma- 
drid? But I don’t know what part I play at 
the Lara, or Eslava, or Apolo. Anyhow, at 
the box-office they take me for an actor. The 
actors think that I am a played-out actor; and 


338 


A CIIRIS7VAN WOMAN'. 


meanwhile, there I am, at my ease with my 
provincial deputy, determined that they shall ^ 
put his farce, or review, or whatever you may 
call it, on the stage.” 

“ Don’t you really know what it is ? ” 

“ No. He has tried to read it to me more 
than a hundred times, but up to the present I 
have parried the blow. We’ll see if I can con- 
tinue to do so. Farew’ell, my saviors ; my 
idea of committing suicide has now evapor- 
ated. Thanks ! 

“ ‘ To-day the heavens and earth on me do smile, 

To-day the sun reaches to my inmost heart. 

To-day you gave me chops, two chops ! 

So, to-day, I in Providence do trust.’ ” 

As he declaimed this, little Dumas held out 
to us his dirty, greasy hands, and went away. 

“ There you have romanticism,” murmured 
Luis, disdainfully, shrugging his shoulders. 

What a pity that he and all the rest like him 
couldn’t have a course of lectures on common- 
sense ology ” 





CHAPTER XXL 

In spite of what Portal had said, I continued 
to study Carmen’s face and actions, and with 
the second sight of passion plainly perceived 
an aversion and dislike, growing all the while 
more marked and deep. 

Ye dramatists, who strew daggers and poi- 
son throughout your terrifying creations ; ye 
poets, who sing of horrible tragedies ; ye nov- 
elists, who* have as many murders as chapters, 
— tell me if there is any struggle more tremen- 
dous than that which goes on in a woman’s 
heart when she is united, subjected, fastened 
to the man whose presence is enough to make 
every fiber of her being quiver with aversion! 
And let those who believe that psychology is 
merely a science of facts like the positive and 
exact physical and natural sciences, tell us 
why that husband should so greatly disgust 
his wife. There is no sufficient cause for it. 
He had not wronged her by any grave fault. 


339 


340 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


She is queen and mistress of her home ; her 
husband is not unfaithful to her but, on the 
contrary, is very attentive to her and is de- 
voted to his home, and the young wife waiting 
for him there. 

Ah, it is evident that Carmen’s antipathy 
was irrational, and for that very reason all the 
stronger, deeper, and more impossible to 
attack and eradicate. One can fight against 
an adversary when he has a body, but not 
when he is an intangible shadow, real only in 
the dark recesses of our soul. There are some 
husbands who ill-treat their wives, \vho betray 
them, who drag them to ruin, and, notwith- 
standing, are still loved, or, at least, not 
shrunk from. Who can say precisely whence 
blows that breath of air called repulsion ? It 
is not hatred. Hatred has its reasons, is 
based upon motives, can explain and justify 
itself ; and if I have sometimes allowed myself 
to say that I hated my uncle, it is because I 
did not express myself with precision. It was 
not hatred which his wife and I felt for him, 
but something more invincible — a profound 
aversion. Hatred may turn into friendship, 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 341 

even into love, because, as it springs from some 
definite causes, other definite causes may ob- 
literate it, but a mysterious repulsion, that 
antipathy which is born in the depths of our 
psychical being, that does not die nor become 
extirpated or transformed. No reasoning can 
conquer unreason, nor is there any logic which 
will avail against instinct, which acts on us 
like nature, directly and intuitively, by virtue 
of laws whose essence is, and forever will be for 
us, an impenetrable secret. 

Grant that Carmen did not hate my uncle 
Felipe. She was incapable of feeling hatred 
toward anybody. My uncle had given her his 
name, a good position, such as it was ; he did 
not treat her ill, nor did I even notice that he 
scrimped her in money-matters, although I 
clearly saw that if the wife were free to do as 
she desired she would enlarge her list of 
charities. 

The married life of my uncle and aunt, thus, 
was only like that of so many husbands and 
wives we see nowadays ; in appearance tran- 
quil and even happy, upheld by that decor- 
ous and middle-class spirit of concord, so fash- 


342 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


ionable in our modern society, where customs 
as well as streets are drawn in a straight line, 
more precise and symmetrical every day. 
But as within the houses in those straight 
streets tragic events occur, and love, vice, and 
crime come and go just as they did in the 
crookedest alleys known to the Middle Ages, 
so under that couple’s cloak of harmony and 
mutual esteem I could perceive their incom- 
patibility of temper ; the husband’s inclina- 
tion to be mean and tyrannical, and the 
wife’s cold, hard, and unconscious feeling of 
repulsion. 

Sometimes 1 would say to myself : “ Take 
care, for Luis is right and I am a fool ! I 
ought not to pay the slightest attention to 
Carmen’s dislike to her husband, which I con- 
stantly observe. What should preoccupy me 
is the sentiment which I inspire in her. If 
she loved me as I love her, what would I care 
if she acted like some dramatic heroine we 
read of, and, without ceasing to love me madly, 
should still display toward her husband a most 
tender affection, — filial, or sisterly, or con- 
jugal respect ? Only let her return my love, 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 345 

and the rest, as far as I am concerned, shall be 
allowed to take place on the stage of the 
soul — where no one ought to venture. What 
inference can I draw from the fact that even 
if she does not care for her rightful lord, she 
never even looks at me ? ” 

Well, I would not draw any inference, yet 
I kept on watching the signs of that antipathy 
with intense joy. Just as, when we begin to 
surmise that the woman we love will return 
our affection, we eagerly watch for a glance, a 
smile, a furtive blush, the trace of a passing 
emotion, that, tearing asunder the delicate 
veil which infolds a woman’s heart, betrays 
and lays bare the hidden flame, so I used to 
study the inflections of her voice, the ill-con- 
cealed flashing of her eyes, the scarcely per- 
ceptible tremor of her lips which revealed to 
me the wife’s moral state. 

At the dinner hour I would watch her closely, 
though pretending to be absent-minded, play- 
ing with my fork or discussing politics with 
my uncle. I am ' sure that everything can 
be feigned, everything subjected to the will, 
— even the expression of the countenance, — 


344 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

but not the voice. Carmen was able to con- 
trol the muscles of her face, to subdue her 
eyes, to prevent her delicate nostrils from 
dilating, but never could succeed in making 
her voice, usually even, soft and clear when 
she was addressing others, anything but harsh 
and muffled when she spoke to her husband. 
And, aside from that fact, there were a thou- 
sand plain indications. The plainest was her 
anxiety to prolong the evenings in the parlor. 
Of her own motion, that woman would never 
have gone to bed. What a delightful im- 
pression it made on me the few times that I 
succeeded in spending the evening with her, to 
see her retard the hour of retiring with a thou- 
sand pretexts ; burying herself in her work, 
saying that she had a certain stint to finish, 
that she would not go to bed until she finished 
it ; that she had to write to her father, or to 
some friends in Pontevedra ; until, finally, my 
uncle would unceremoniously command her to 
retire. I was only able to make such observa^ 
tions on Saturday nights; the rest of the week 
I had to go to my room early on account of 
my lessons. I used to sit by the chimney in 


A CffRISTIAiV WOMAN. 345 

the boudoir next to her bedroom, which had 
moss-green plush portibres. They were drawn 
back, so that I could look into the hateful 
chamber, where was daily enacted the iniqui- 
tous mystery of absolute intimacy between 
two beings who did not love each other or per- 
haps feel any esteem for each other, who had 
no mutual understanding or any points of con- 
tact beyond the fact that the Moorish friar had 
thrown the stole over them at the same time. 

One morning I received a letter from my 
mother, written in her usual precipitate and 
incoherent style, without punctuation, it is 
unnecessary to add, and wholly devoted to 
giving me some strange news. 

“You don’t know the greatest joke of all 
that the old man Aldao fell into the trap set 
by that horrid girl Candidifia who turned his 
head bewitched and made him raving mad 
until finally he consented to marry her secretly 
not publicly and the priest denies it and the 
old man as well but I know it by one who saw 
it with his own eyes and some very indecent 
couplets are going the rounds in Pontevedra 
about this phenomenon and it seems that the 


346 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


editor of EL Teucrense wrote them and they 
would make one die laughing an impudent girl 
can succeed in anything they say he gave her 
a mantilla and a black silk dress may the 
Lord grant that we may not lose our wits and 
get in our dotage I don’t know whether his 
daughter knows it but keep quiet and let 
somebody else tell her for they will surely 
write to Felipe about this scrape a nice mess it 
is and now he has a step-mother and I am glad 
of it as he took advantage of us.” 

It is needless to say that as soon as I could 
find Carmen alone I hastened to tell her the 
great news, not without great preambles and 
much circumlocution. Far from being startled 
or sorrowful, Senor Aldao’s daughter displayed 
great satisfaction. 

“ God has heard my prayers,” she exclaimed, 
impetuously. “ God has rewarded me, Salus- 
tio. At my father’s age he had better be 
married than — otherwise. I am glad for his 
own sake. You may be sure that I rejoice, 
though I should have liked him to make a 
different choice. But now that it is over, I 
hope it may turn out well.” 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


347 


‘‘I don’t want to spoil your joy,” I said; 

but Carmifia, a man of your father’s age runs 
a great risk and loses something of his dignity 
by marrying a girl of sixteen.” 

That matter rests between her and her con- 
science,” argued my aunt. ‘‘ Probably she will 
be very careful in the discharge of her new 
duties, now that she is married. She never 
had any before ; some improprieties can be 
pardoned her.” 

“ But she is a regular weather-vane and 
will continue to be so, for it is innate in her. 
A nice one she is, to lead on that poor old 
gentleman to such an extreme ! I assure you, 
your step-mother is a rare bird. No one 
knows what the future will bring forth.” 

“ Well, God is over all. L^t us hope that 
the grace of the sacrament may do its office.” 

“ Do you believe in the grace of the sacra- 
ment ? ” I asked, remembering what Luis had 
said, and smiling, in spite of myself, at her 
words, which were in such marked contrast to 
my own ideas and convictions, though, coming 
from her lips, they seemed to me the very 
formula of propriety and moral beauty. 


348 A CHJ^ISTIAN WOMAN. 

“ What a question ! Why shouldn’t I be- 
lieve in it? Fine I’d look if I didn’t! When 
God instituted that sacrament he pledged 
Himself to help with His grace all who avail 
themselves of it. Without such aid marriage 
would not be possible.” 

“Grace consists in loving each other, Car- 
men,” I murmured, drawing near to her and 
fixing my eyes on hers. I did not desire to 
convince her, or to lead her astray, God knows, 
but, on the contrary, I wanted her to display 
all the absurdities of her theological learning 
and brandish before me, like a warlike Ama- 
zon, the well-tempered weapons with which she 
guarded her virtue. But I reckoned without 
my host, because Carmen would not engage 
in controversy. She only replied, pleasantly : 

“ It is only natural that you should think 
that way, being only a boy, and having such 
ideas as you do. I am very sorry that you are 
not more religious. With years you will gain 
experience and will be able to judge better. 
Your head will get settled at last 1 ” 

“ Well, Carmifta, suppose I only need a word 
from you to settle it ? Do you say that that 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN 


349 


about loving each other is all nonsense ? Well, 
I’ll believe it if you say so. But at least you 
cannot deny that in order to be happy, no mat- 
ter how holy the married pair may be, they 
must have some affection for each other ; must 
at least not hate each other or be mutually 
repugnant. Am I not right ? ” 

Carmifla turned pale, and her eyelashes 
quivered slightly. She suddenly looked at 
me with a pained expression as though say- 
ing : “ That is a forbidden subject and I am 
surprised that you should allude to it.” 

I carried away from that brief dialogue, 
broken off by the coming in of my uncle, a 
greater supply of hope. My uncle entered 
hastily, with a very abrupt and surprised air. 
As soon as he saw his wife he drew a letter 
from his pocket. 

“ Carmen, what is the meaning of this ? 
Did you know anything about it ? Why, 
Castro Mera writes to me saying that every- 
body declares that your father is secretly mar- 
ried to his maid-servant’s niece ! ” 

My aunt tried to control her voice as she 
answered bravely: 


350 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 

“ It must be true, for Benigna also has 
written about it to Salustio.” 

“ And you say so in that quiet way ? ” cried 
her husband. 

There are moments in which the curtain is 
drawn back, and you surprise the soul in all its 
nakedness and perceive its mysterious shapes, 
however quickly the surprised one may try to 
cover them up. That cry fully revealed my 
uncle’s soul, hard, dry, and vilely mercenary — 
like a great many others which . roam around^ 
the world inclosed in bodies less Jewish in ap-, 
pearance. 

It is a great joke — your taking it so 
coolly,” he continued, excited and beside him- 
self. “ According to that you don’t care if 
your father is crazy ! Because that is what it 
is — senile imbecility, dotage ! But your brother 
and I will take steps to annul the marriage, 
and have that old man put under a guardian. 
Getting married ! What a farce ! That is 
what is called laughing in the face of all the 
world and making fools of stupid sons-in-law ! ” 

His eyes flashed fire, his hooked nose gave 
emphasis to the expression of avarice and 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 35 1 

rapacity on his coarse lips, his face was flushed 
and almost as red as his beard, while his 
trembling hand mechanically took up and laid 
down again on the table already set for lunch, 
knife, fork, and napkin. 

‘‘What do you expect,” replied his wife, 
firmly, taking her place at the table as though 
nothing had occurred. “ My father is master 
of his own actions for the very reason that he 
is so old. It is not true that he is in his 
dotage, and the respect we owe him ought to 
prohibit us from opposing his will. Let us 
be patient. It would be worse if he were to 
live in a scandalous manner.” 

“You are a fool!” exclaimed her husband, 
losing all restraint for the first time, and deter- 
mined to free his mind. “At your father’s 
age there is no scandal possible, or any such 
nonsense ; all that there is, is folly and im- 
becility and ridiculousness — that most absurd 
of all things, marrying a young girl of low 
birth, a servant ! Within a month’s time he 
will find that his head is too big for his hat. 
You women don’t know about such matters, 
or know what you are talking about. It is 


352 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


your lack of experience and ignorance of the 
world, which you do not know, nor have you 
any reason to know it. So you would do 
better to keep quiet most of the time. And, 
by Jove ! if you will hear it, your father 
ought to have told me, before marrying off his 
daughter: ‘ Felipe, don’t be too sure of me; 
although I am so old that my pantaloons fall 
off me, I feel lively and wont be long in get- 
ting married again. And as at my age a man 
always has children I shall have two or three 
boys who will leave my daughter out in the 
cold.’ How nice, hey? How nice !” 

My a«nt kept quiet. The pallor of her 
cheeks, her quick breathing and her flashing 
eyes indicated the indignation and protest 
which raged in her soul. But instead of open- 
ing the valve, she repressed her feelings and 
took a glass of water which was on the table. 
I heard the glass click against her teeth while 
she drank, showing how rapidly her pulse was 
beating. My uncle, without paying the slight- 
est regard to her agitation and her brave 
silence, went on, growing more and more ex- 
cited with his own words : 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


353 


I shall write him a scorching letter at 
once and tell him what I think. He shall 
hear from me, I swear it. That deviltry will 
be thrown in his face, or my name is not 
Felipe. I’ll give him so much trouble that 
he’ll have cause to remember the saint of my 
name. And he, of course, will think that I 
shall allow you to associate with your precious 
step-mother ! ” 

“ In the first place,” replied my aunt slowly, 
with an effort, “ I believe that their marriage 
is still a secret ; and in the second place, I 
used to associate with her when I was at home 
and when she was exposed to worse things. 
Why shouldn’t I associate with her now that 
she is my father’s wife, if she behaves herself 
properly ? ” 

“ Behaves herself ; no trouble about beha- 
vior ! ” exclaimed my uncle, ironically. “ Be- 
haves herself well ! The young fellows at Pon- 
tevedra and San Andres can tell you all about 
that. However, as far as that is concerned I 
don’t care anything about it — ” 

“ Well, as for me, that’s the only thing I do 
care about,” answered my aunt, vehemently, 


354 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN, 


unable to restrain herself any longer. “ I 
hope that my father may not have cause to 
feel ashamed of his choice^ and let the rest be 
as God wills, — as it will be, after all.” 

Oh, obdurate hardness of heart of the 
Hebrew race, with how much justice did Christ 
reprove you ! Those words, prompted by a 
sublime impulse of faith, would have moved a 
stone ; but my uncle was harder than a stone, 
and, throwing away his napkin, he arose from 
the table, muttering between his teeth : 

“ As if that was not enough to come upon 
one, I must listen to stupidities and twaddle. 
He must have nerve. Just think of that scare- 
crow getting married now ; and then to hear 
him defended here, — here in my own house ! ” 

He rushed out of the dining-room. I fol- 
lowed him, for I wanted to know where he was 
going, and I had an object in leaving Carmen 
alone. I heard my uncle shut himself up in 
his study, doubtless in order to write the 
scorching ” letter to his father-in-law. Then 
I went back, and entering the dining-room, 
suddenly, - drew near to Carmen and seated 
myself beside her, murmuring tenderly : 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN ' 355 

Don’t cry, my aunt ; come, now, don't cry. 
Foolish one, don’t trouble yourself about 
that.” 

I had not deceived myself in my surmises. 

Startled, she turned around, and I saw her 
eyes swimming in tears, though her energy 
of will instantly dried them. In a voice which 
was almost steady she answered me, drawing 
away a little : 

“ Thanks, Salustio. It is all over. One 
can’t help it sometimes, one is so foolish.” 

‘‘That man talks to you in a way which 
arouses my indignation. I had a hard time to 
keep still. How can you bear it ? ” 

“ No, no, not that ; don’t even say it ! He 
is my husband, and can’t stop to choose his 
words.” 

“ Indeed, he ought to choose them. To a 
woman like you, who are goodness and holi- 
ness in person, one ought to speak in this pos- 
ture — so — do you see ? ” I murmured, kneeling 
before her. 

‘' If you don’t get up I shall be angry, and 
so I shall if you ever say that again,” answered 
she, standing up resolutely. “ I don’t thank 


35 6 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

you for this attempt to comfort me, Salustio; 
it seems more like flattery, and flattering me is 
lost time. Do you want me to tell you the 
truth ? Well, then, I am to blame, entirely to 
blame, for that unpleasant scene. I ought not 
to have gone contrary to Felipe, but to have 
waited till the first outburst was over, and 
then have reasoned with him. It is only nat- 
ural that he should feel annoyed at papa’s 
marriage. Let us be fair. No husband ever 
gets angry with his wife if she does not contra- 
dict him. The tongue causes all matrimonial 
dissensions. It is a wife’s duty to keep quiet.” 

^‘No, you foolish girl, your duty is to speak 
when you are right ; the same as we do, 
although we often talk a great deal when we 
are wrong. So you think that even if your 
husband were to break forth with some bar- 
barous remark, — such as to say there is no 
God, — you ought not to answer him ? ” 

“ Not while he is irritated — no, what good 
would it do ! It would be like throwing wood 
into the fire, and would never persuade him. 
But as soon as he gets calm, then I ought to 
tell him my objections, affectionately and 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 357 

mildly, as well as I know how, and then he 
would listen to me and would be persuaded.’' 

I did not know what to reply, since, even 
though a thousand reflections occurred to me, 
my aunt’s way of reasoning conquered me 
completely, and seemed the only one worthy 
of her. 

It was a very cloudy ,day. The dining- 
room opened into the court, and the thick 
curtains cut off the light and made it more 
gloomy. The folds of those dark, thick 
woolen curtains seemed to me, by a sudden 
freak of the imagination, to look like a friar’s 
garb, the heavy cord that looped them up 
helping to make the resemblance all the more 
striking. The arabesque patterns on the cur- 
tain, at a certain height, looked to me like a 
man’s face. It was a strange bit of self-sug- 
gestion that evoked there the shadow of 
Father Moreno, listening to our conversation, 
and ridiculing me with a mocking air. 
“Cursed friar!” I ejaculated mentally, ad- 
dressing the curtain. “You are going to be 
disappointed, I promise you. Because noth- 
ing that outrages human nature and is con- 


358 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


trary to its laws will last, and this heroic 
abnegation of my aunt and the violence she 
does to her own deepest feelings cannot go on 
indefinitely ; the time will come when the 
spring will break, and I shall watch for that 
hour to come. I swear to you, you stupid 
friar, you have never tasted the only real 
happiness in life.” 

By chance my aunt fixed her eyes on the 
curtain with the intensity of those who gaze 
into vacancy and are distracted by their sad 
reflections. I fancied that she also saw what 
I did in the folds of the curtains, and that to 
her eyes also the shadow of the friar stood 
forth, silent but eloquent in its attitude. 

What would I not have given then to pene- 
trate into the hidden recesses of that woman’s 
mind, and read the revolutionary proclama- 
tion which was undoubtedly written there by 
an invisible hand ! But the wife allowed 
nothing to come to the surface. She arose 
and went into the kitchen to ask whether 
lunch was ready. “ For you must be hungry 
by this time, Salustio,” she said when she 
came back, calm and self-possessed. 


CHAPTER XXIL 

How did it happen that a ray of divine joy, 
of unreasoning but delicious hope, fell upon 
my soul — a light, in short, like that which ac- 
cording to popular tradition, penetrates the 
darkness of the limbo on Candlemas Day? 
Let me see whether I can recollect it, with all 
its most insignificant and even ludicrous de- 
tails ; with its intermingling of dreams and 
realities, so inseparable that I do not know 
where the first end or the second begin ; in- 
deed, I cannot affirm that the latter ever ex- 
isted except within the soul that perceived 
them, in my own representative faculty, though 
that is for me the supreme reality. 

It happened that Trinito, our philharmonic 
Cuban, on receiving quite a large sum of 
money from his island home, set about spend- 
ing it right and left in the most reckless man- 
ner. One of his extravagances was to take 
orchestra chairs at the Real and invite us all to 
359 


360 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

go to the opening night of a Spanish opera, 
which had been greatly discussed and com- 
mented upon in the newspapers beforehand. 
In vain did we object that this lavishness was 
unnecessary, since we would feel much more 
at our ease in the gallery, between girls both 
plain and good-looking, and skilled devotees 
of the divine art.” 

But what he really aspired to was to put on 
airs and give a certain dress-coat its opening 
night, and he would not listen to us, but 
dragged Portal and me off to the theater ; but 
as for the poor boy from Zamora, he would 
npt budge, even if they were to cut him in 
pieces. 

Neither Portal nor I owned dress-coats, but 
we did justice to the. festive occasion and put on 
our long frock-coats, which we dragged out from 
the bottom of our trunks, hoping that no one 
would notice us, and that all eyes would be 
fixed on the Cuban, who was resplendent in 
his finery. His new dress-coat and trousers 
glistened with the peculiar luster of broad- 
cloth, and the narrow satin lappel, reaching^ 
down to his waist, set off the snowy whiteness 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 


361 


of his shirt-front. The fellow, in order not to 
omit any accessory, had spent his quarter for a 
fragrant gardenia, which rested proudly in his 
button-hole in irreproachable style. He did 
not buy a crush hat for lack of time, but en- 
tered the theater concealing his slouch hat 
under his cloak, so as. not to disarrange his 
curls and the beautiful parting of his hair. 

We took our seats, feeling somewhat bash- 
ful, hoping that nobody would see us ; but 
Trinito stood up with his back to the orches- 
tra, and, thrusting out his chest where the fine 
shirt-front bulged out, passed his gloveless 
hand over his carefully dressed hair, and 
looked just like a dandy of the loftiest and 
most overpowering sort. Although his sight 
was as keen as his hearing, he had hired an 
enormous pair of opera-glasses, and leveled 
them alternately at the boxes and orchestra 
seats, scanning the society belles, their low- 
cut dresses, their ornaments and jewels. Por- 
tal, very quiet and so1ne\yhat abashed, amused 
himself by saying sotto voce that Queen Chris- 
tina was gazing at him through her lorgnette, 
and that the Infanta Isabel was making signs 


362 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

to the Infanta Eulalia to call her attention to 
the unknown and fascinating dandy. 

As soon as the curtain went up, Trinito ex- 
perienced his musical seizure, and closely fol- 
lowed the construction of the opera, which for 
five hours gave us siftings of Wagner and 
Meyerbeer, Donizetti and Rossini, as it had a 
little of everything in it except what was new 
and Spanish. 

Trinito, carried away by excitement, and 
with his unfailing, retentive memory, would 
not let us rest. 

Boys,” he said, “ this is simply an olla 
^odrida. Here the fellow has put in the largo 
assai of Mendelssohn’s thirty-second opus, 
.Well, well ! If he hasn’t taken the entire 
allegretto of the overture of ‘Don Juan.’ I 
declare, that’s from ‘ The Magic Flute ; ’ fif- 
teen measures, at least, are exactly like it, 
stolen bodily! This maestoso is from ‘The 
Flying Dutchman ’ or ‘ Parsifal.’” 

“ Or from ‘ Green Beans,’ ” added Portal, 
phlegmatically. 

“ Don’t you lau^h, for there is something 
from ‘ Green Beans,’ also, or very much like it. 


A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 3^3 

because I have heard that sort of a clatter in 
comic opera. Now he skips to the Symphony 
in A minor of the sordo sublime — fellows, I 
am infuriated ! I shall protest ! This is simply 
highway robbery ! ” 

In the second act Trinito’s indignation went 
on in a crescendo no less noisy than that of the 
closing duet. In the third, he completely 
bored us with his exposures of reminiscences 
and plagiarisms, shouting so loudly as to- 
attract the attention of the audience, pointing 
out the fragments of a hand of Mozart’s or 
a shin of Beethoven’s, which were scattered 
through the opera ; and at the fourth act, his 
rage grew so overwhelming that he would not 
allow us to stay till the end of the opera. 

“ Let us go before they call out that coun- 
terfeiter ! I would hiss him if I remained, and 
one must not raise a rumpus here. Come on, 
then ; let us be discreet. I am so enraged I 
scarcely know what I am doing. Hold me,, 
carry me to the street ! ” 

We were amazed at this outburst, as sur- 
prising in the usually calm and equable Cuban 
as it would have been in a canary or a lamb. 


3<J4 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

and consented to leave before anybody else, 
making off through the lobby toward the door. 

Without transition, we passed from the 
heated, vibrating, and echoing air of the 
orchestra circle, out to the chilly lobby, which 
was all the colder for being deserted, since only 
two ushers were walking up and down there. 
A current of air, sharp as a stiletto, entered my 
half-opened mouth, while I was laughing, and 
my dilated nostrils, and went as by instinct to 
my chest, where I felt a singular compression. 

“ Cover your mouths, gentlemen,” said the 
practical Luis, “ or we shall catch the greatest 
pneumonia of the Christian era. Cover your 
mouth, Salustio ; don’t be childish.” 

I searched for my handkerchief in order to 
protect myself with it, but I already felt that 
strange warning, that dull, numb pain of 
the disease which so insidiously enters our 
bodies, taking advantage of our imprudence or 
carelessness, as a thief who sees the key in 
the door and improves the opportunity to in- 
vestigate the chest. 

“ I believe that I have already caught it,” I 
murmured, with some anxiety. 


A CHIilSTIAJV WOMAN-. 365 

Don’t worry ; let us go to Fornos’s and 
take some punch. Come on, you’ll see how 
nice and hot it will be,” said my companions, 
as we emerged into the bleak Plaza de Oriente. 
We proceeded to Fornos’s and took our punch. 
Trinito treated us, and gave us a fresh mono- 
graph on the plagiarisms and rhapsodies in 
the opera ; while he sang his indignation for 
us, and even played it for us on the table. 
That timef he was determined to write a mu- 
sical criticism ; of course he would ! He was 
going to pulverize the composer, or the rat, to 
be more explicit, which he had caught in the 
act of visiting Wagner’s pocket. 

I went to bed late and did not sleep well. 
The next day I awoke feeling inexplicably 
tired and depressed, with that species of de- 
spondency or dejection which precedes any 
great physical disorder. Carmen noticed that 
I did not look well and begged me to lie 
down, scolding me gently for having gone to 
bed the night before at such an unearthly 
hour. 

I consented because I felt so worn out, and 
every bone in my body ached, as we say in the 


366 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

country. As I withdrew I said to Carmifta, in 
a supplicating tone : 

‘‘ Will you come to see me ? ” 

Of course I will. I shall take you a cup 
of tea made of boiled mallow-flowers to give 
you a sweat. You have taken cold ; probably 
through some crazy imprudence.” 

As soon as I lay down, in a flash, the fever 
broke out triumphantly, as did my exhaus- 
tion and the congestion of my lungs. I be- 
gan to wander in my mind and grow deliri- 
ous. It could not have been delirium so 
much as a capricious and fanciful flight of the 
imagination through those regions of which I 
was most fond when in my normal state. 

In my lucid intervals, and between the par- 
oxysms of my struggle for breath, I seemed to 
see the yew tree once more, with its dark green 
foliage, standing out against the heavenly 
blue sky and the pale verdure of the river- 
lands. I heard the songs of working-women, 
pipes announcing the dawn, the whizz of rock- 
ets, the sound of a piano, and there were 
moments when I was positive that an ugly 
black bat came fluttering through the win- 


A CHRISTIAN- WOMAN. 367 

-dow, and, with a pin run through it, expired 
before me. Of course, Father Moreno was 
there, and sometimes his presence consoled 
me, while at other times it would so irritate 
me, that I would have gladly flung something* 
at his head. 

During my delirium it seems that I sang 
loudly and gave formulas and propounded 
problems, in mathematics. What I am sure 
of is that, over and above my delirium and the 
fever and terrible discomfort, and the strict- 
ures in my bronchial tubes and lungs, an 
enchanting sensation used to hover. Carmen 
did not leave my room ; she gave me my 
medicines, smoothed my sheets, and waited on 
me and attended to me all through. At one 
time, when, by an involuntary impulse pro- 
duced by the fever, I threw my arms around 
her neck, I fancied — was I really out of my 
head ? — that Carmen, so strong, so invincible, 
far from making the slightest movement to 
draw away from me, was returning my em- 
brace. I would swear that her eyes gazed at 
me with a sweet and tender look ; that her 
hands caressed and petted me as one pets and 


368 A CHRISTIAN WOMAN. 

•caresses a child ; that her lips murmured sweet 
words which sounded like music of the heart. 
-Allowing myself to be carried away by my 
fancy, I thought, as I sank to sleep under the 
influence of a powerful narcotic : - 

“ Carmen loves me ; she loves me, without 
doubt. How happy I shall be if I do not 
die!” 

- I sighed, half turned over in bed, and, if I 
could have put into words the feeling which 
filled my heart, I would have added, “ And 
Jiow happy I shall be, even if I do die.” 



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Sharon, Pa. 


Reading, Pa. 
Johnstown, Pa. 
Wilkes Barre, Pa. 
Columbia, S. C. 
Fort Worth, Tex. 
Houston, Tex. 
San Antonio, Tex 
Waco, Tex. 
Brattleboro, Vt. 
Vergennes, Vt. 
Kichniond. Va. 
Roanoke, Va, 
Milwaukee, Wis. 




And many other places not mentioned above 




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